In its series of roadshows across Herts, Rennie Grove Hospice Care has been highlighting the importance of the local community through a range of activities.

Director of fundraising and marketing Gillian Barnett explained: “Rennie Grove’s services are funded by the local community for the local community – and we wanted our roadshows to reflect that. So that local residents can get a feel for the scale of the service in their local area, we’ve worked out how many people have benefitted from Rennie Grove’s service in the past year.”

Rennie Grove’s hospice at home nurses in Hertfordshire cared for 554 patients in 2015-16, making 6,681 visits to patients’ homes at any time of the day or night. They also made 8,954 phone calls to patients, carers and other healthcare professionals.

Liaising with all the healthcare providers involved in a patient’s care and being able to get to a patient and provide pain relief as soon as symptoms occur is crucial. It means Rennie Grove’s hospice at home nurses can provide a unique service to local people affected by cancer and other life-limiting illness, offering 24/7 responsive, seamless care in patients’ homes 365 days a year.

Of the wide range of services available to patients and their families at Grove House, patients attended 1,692 Day Hospice sessions, 341 sessions at our nurse and consultant clinics and 461 sessions of physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Gillian said: “We couldn’t help the hundreds of patients in each of our local communities without those communities’ support.

“To reflect this crucial support, at each roadshow we’re asking people to help create a piece of community art by placing their thumb in a palette of pink or purple ink and adding their unique thumbprint to our canvas, gradually filling in the outline of a Rennie Grove Hospice Care logo.

“By asking individuals to ‘make their mark’ in this way, we’re hoping to symbolise the community of volunteers, fundraisers and customers who enable Rennie Grove to offer a unique service in the community, tailored to every individual who needs it.”

The roadshows are designed to encourage people to make the connection between the former names of the founding charities and the name Rennie Grove Hospice Care, whilst reassuring them that the charity continues to provide the same high standards of patient-centred care.