Hospital chaplains will be taking Christmas messages out to patients over the next few weeks as visiting restrictions continue.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s Pastoral and Spiritual Care Team is inviting relatives and friends to email them with messages for patients which they will then deliver in person.

The team of chaplains works across both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital, and will be offering the service from Monday 20 December with intention to continue into the New Year or for as long as visiting restrictions remain in place at the Trust.

In the first instance, it is designed to bring comfort to those patients with little or no means of outside communication, but is open to all to use.

Tony Brookes (third left) and members of the Pastoral and Spiritual Care Team

Tony Brookes, Head of Chaplaincy for the Trust says:

“There’s never a good time to be in hospital, but to be hospitalised in the run up to the festive season and with visiting very much restricted for Covid safety reasons at the moment, we felt the need to do something for our patients.

“We appreciate many patients will have mobiles these days and will be able to keep in touch with loved ones by phone or social media, but there will be some who don’t own a phone, perhaps they don’t know how to use a mobile, or they may simply not be well enough to do so.

“We’d like to make sure those patients in particular, who cannot communicate with family or receive visitors in the coming weeks, still have the opportunity to connect with loved ones and know that they are still thinking of them.

“Quite simply, we’re inviting people to send us the details of their friend or relative, and we’ll pass on any messages, poems, stories or good wishes which they choose to share with us. It’s such a small gesture but one we think will make a huge difference to many patients in our care this Christmastime.”

The team is offering the service Monday to Friday, across both HRI and Castle Hill, with any messages sent over the weekend being picked up on the following Monday.

Messages should be emailed to hyp-tr.greetingstolovedone@nhs.net along with the name of the patient, the ward, unit or department they are on, which hospital they are in, and any other detail/information which may help the team to identify the patient.