Devastating impact of coronavirus on Sue Ryder

My name is Danielle Gregory and I am a nurse at Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent Hospice.

I am writing to you to tell you about the devastating impact the coronavirus crisis is having on us and how we urgently need your help.

We are facing a huge challenge in the next few weeks.  

All of our shops have closed and nearly all of our fundraising activities have stopped resulting in a massive drop in our income.

For the very first time we are finding ourselves in the position where we might not be able to afford to continue providing end of life care.

We are so very proud of the work we do, the expert care we give and the vital support we provide to the NHS, thanks to our generous supporters.

Today, we find ourselves needed more than ever before.

It is devastating to think we might not be able to continue. I cannot imagine what our patients would do without us. This is why I am asking for your help.  If we can raise enough money to help us get through the next few weeks we stand a chance.  It will make all the difference.

We are all facing something we have never faced before, which is why Sue Ryder has launched an emergency appeal.  I am asking you to please, give whatever you can afford. Every pound you give could make the difference to whether we can continue to be there when it matters for local families in the future.  It is that simple.  Please donate at www.sueryder.org/donate

Danielle Gregory, Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent Hospice.

More bad news – Sue Ryder

Apart from all that is happening around us, especially the health of our Prime Minister, I was so upset to read today (Tuesday) of the funding threat to Sue Ryder’s Hospices.  

Six years ago, my wife was dying of terminal cancer. Looking after her, I had reached the stage that I could no longer manage to lift her etc., due to needing a hip replacement. Our doctor speedily arranged for her to go to the Duchess of Kent Hospice in Reading.

Witnessing how they looked after her and eased her path to Heaven, was an experience of care I did not believe existed! Such lovely staff and doctors.

If Sue Ryder and potentially others providing such care fail and are unable to continue, we shall have lost something very special, and an example I wish was available to anyone at the end of their life.

Reg Clifton, Wokingham

A swift recovery

I would like to wish our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson a swift recovery. I like many of you was extremely concerned to see him now in intensive care at
St Thomas’s Hospital in London. When someone at the head of Government is impacted, it shows how it can affect anyone.

We are in unprecedented times and the need for all of us to adhere to Social Distancing is even more important over the coming weeks. We have to be patient to ensure the worst this unpleasant virus has does not take too many of us.

 Here in Wokingham we have, to date, been relatively spared, but we cannot be complacent.

As opposition councillors on Wokingham Borough Council we have been regularly briefed and have had the opportunity to raised areas of concern on a wide range of important issues.

I should like to thank the Chief Executive and Leader of the Council for their clear, concise and honest approach to how this virus is impacting all of us.

Arrangements have been put in place to provide help for local residents and for local people to offer their services via the Wokingham Community Hub based at St Crispin’s School.

Many hundreds of local residents have offered their services and several hundred food parcels and many peoples prescriptions have already been delivered.

I would like to thank everyone involved especially those at the CAB and various Volunteer Groups across the Borough. Officers and councillors from WBC have been also assisting in this activity.

If you are a local business who needs additional help please go on to the WBC website and here you should be able to find a route to gaining some financial assistance especially for those businesses who have either had to close, or have experienced a significant drop in business.

There are local schemes now in place to assist with Council Tax, council rents and others for those of us who need financial help at these difficult times.

We do not know how long this virus is going to impact us, but current plans are for at least three months, but it could be more, so it is vital that we continue as we have been over these past two-three weeks and keep our distance.

Hopefully in time we will beat this unseen monster. I wish everyone well over these coming months.

Cllr Lindsay Ferris

Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Wokingham Borough Council & Member for Twyford

New immigration rules

New immigration rules are coming into place, barring “unskilled” workers from the UK. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the idea of “unskilled” people being of less value to our country is not only uncompassionate, but evidently untrue.

As well as those on the frontline in healthcare such as carers or cleaners, we now know that bus drivers, supermarket and delivery workers have more than proven their essential status.

According to recent research by the IPPR, two-thirds of the EU migrants currently contributing to our healthcare system would not have been allowed into the country under the new system.

 In the transport sector, the figure is 85%.

The people currently holding Britain together could be sent back later this year. Who will fill their jobs?

That’s why I fully support Best for Britain’s campaign to extend the Brexit transition period until after the Coronavirus outbreak.

That way, we can make sure we get a deal which works for Britain, and the immigrants who choose to make Britain their home.

We mustn’t turn our back on those who’ve helped us through this crisis.

I think if someone risks their safety to care for Britain, we should care for them.

Vanessa Rogers, Wokingham

Giving blood

I am a regular blood donor and had made an appointment to donate on 20 May 2020, about 16 weeks after my last donation.

On April 2, l I received a letter from NHS Blood and Transplant cancelling my appointment. The letter states that the cancellation was due to events outside of their control.

I logged into their website and learned that I am barred from donating until at least 26 June – no explanation given.

I then phoned their helpline and was told that all donors aged 70 or more are suspended until at least June 26, i.e for the entire three-month self-isolation period, which may be extended further.

Mike Stredder, director of Blood Donation, who signed my letter, should have made this clear, as should the NHS Blood and Transplant spokesperson quoted in your article.

Michael Storey, Wokingham

When the virus is defeated, life will seem sweeter

Ever since gunpowder was invented in ninth-century China, mankind has, with its help, been doing its best to blow itself to smithereens.

From crude muskets and artillery pieces and, at the cost of millions of lives, the black powder, rather like the world wide web, has proved to be a can of worms whose lid cannot be resealed, allowing the human race to continue with its efforts to self-destruct by creating increasingly obscene weapons of mass destruction costing trillions of pounds, dollars and roubles.

The irony of all this is that some 12 centuries later, for just the price of a couple of caged, culinary bats, a weapon was purchased, silent, invisible and with the destructive potential for beyond the imaginings of those alchemists of yesteryear.

In spite of the shade of coronavirus continuing to spread gloom, fear, sacrifice, shortage and lockdown keeping some families and loved ones apart, while darkening the lives of others, no-one appears to have told the blackbird, whose liquid notes fill the air as he croons from the cherry tree at the end of the garden, or the little Jenny wren busily building its nest behind the downpipe outside the kitchen door.

Both going about their business, seemingly with not a care in the world.

As the trees green and roses bud, perhaps while the world is on hold, we should take advantage of this enforced interlude and ‘take time to smell the flowers’.

When the virus is eventually defeated, as it will be, life and its gifts and freedoms all to often taken for granted will seem that much sweeter.

JW Blaney, Wokingham