London City Airport boosts Practice Development Programme at Richard House Children’s Hospice

Richard House has been awarded £3000 from the London City Airport Community Fund to put towards a Practice Development Programme.

The grant will help train Care staff in looking after seriously ill children who have more complex needs. This offers an uplifting start to 2021, a time in which many members of the Richard House family are shielding as a result of being in the high-risk category of severe Illness from coronavirus.

Richard House offers another safe space for our children and families to go and is currently supporting the NHS with the admission of complex cases, providing bed space in hospitals for additional coronavirus patients. This fund has come at a time when we need to expand our care services more than ever. As beneficiaries, Richard House will be able to continue providing life-line care for complex cases a service in which some children’s hospices are unable to provide. Kathryn Elvin, Acting Head of Corporate Engagements and Partnerships said:

“To be a recipient of the London Community Fund in 2021 is fantastic news for our hospice. Across the past year we have offered respite and care to seriously ill children who have very complex needs, supporting the NHS in their battle against Covid-19 by taking children from hospital wards. These children are able to come to Richard House because of the higher levels of specialist training our nursing and care staff receive. We can only continue to deliver this training with the generous funding of donors like London City Airport’s Community Fund. This grant will support our hospice in continuing our vital work.”

John, carer to 7 year old Hope at Richard House said:

“During lockdown, Hope was showing signs of being unwell with her condition. My immediate thoughts were that we may have to ring Evelina, London Children’s Hospital. In turn, they would contact local hospitals to find out if they had enough bed space, and we would get triaged there because of the pandemic, it would have been a nightmare”

This fund will enable Richard House to support the most vulnerable children and their families in our community. The hospice has faced unprecedented funding challenges because of the pandemic. A gap in fundraising income in the future is likely due to the rise of the recession. You too can make the world of a difference:

https://richardhouse.org.uk/donate/