A BUSINESSMAN has donated to the Bolton Hospice at Home service to help ensure patients can be cared for in their own homes.

Doug Mercer, Managing Director of Toughsheet Building Products in Westhoughton, donated £1,000 to the service which has made 1,469 visits to patients at home since the start of the pandemic.

He said: “So much is being concentrated on Covid that people are forgetting the nurses that look after terminally ill people in their own homes.”

The Hospice at Home team works collaboratively with District Nurses, GPs and Macmillan Nurses to ensure that those patients who want to be cared for at home can be.

This is a seven days a week service with a core team of nurses who are highly skilled, motivated and committed to delivering all aspects of specialist palliative care and end of life care. The team is also well-supported by medical staff at the Hospice itself.

Hospice interim fundraising manager Kathryn Willett said: “The Hospice continues to support the Bolton-wide multi-agency Covid emergency response and remains absolutely committed to supporting those most vulnerable in our community.

“We do everything we possibly can to continue caring for patients and their families with life-limiting illnesses.

“We are incredibly grateful to the team at Toughsheet for their wonderful donation which will help us keep providing the vital care that so many people depend on this Christmas time.

“This has been an uncertain year for us all and we cannot thank everyone at Toughsheet enough for supporting us during these difficult times.”