THE region’s specialist hospice charity has reopened its state of the art hospice for young adults to take in adult patients from local hospitals to support the NHS in the fight against Covid-19.

Naomi House & Jacksplace last week announced it would have to temporarily suspending its respite service for children and young adults.

But now the hospice has announced that it is stepping up for the wider community and will begin offering care to patients from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The patients will comprise adults who are fit for discharge and not known to be infected with Covid-19.

The hospice will open six beds which will be staffed by Naomi House & Jacksplace’s highly skilled nurses and care team.

Mark Smith, chief executive at Naomi House & Jacksplace, said: “We are a charity set up by the community to support the most vulnerable within the community and so right now, we feel that dedicating our resources to support the NHS to free up beds for those affected by Coronavirus is the best use of our facilities and our nurses and carers.

"We will continue to support children, young adults and their families remotely whilst we work closely with our health service, and we are pleased our skilled care teams and our hospice buildings can be used to support our NHS colleagues at this most difficult time.”

Staff at the hospices will remain available to deliver end of life care to children and young adults and continue to provide telephone counselling and therapy support to scores of families across the Wessex region.

The new patients will be housed at Jacksplace, the hospice for young adults, which has seven beds in total, each with hoisting equipment and ensuite bathrooms. The hospice’s bereavement suite, Ocean, will remain available to families in the period immediately after the loss of their child.

The charity has also announced a significant drop in fundraising income due to the coronavirus crisis. It had to close its network of shops, furlough staff until further notice and postpone dozens of fundraising events.

Mr Smith added: “It is clear that our charity is entering a most challenging period for fundraising but we know we must emerge from this crisis able to deliver the same high standards of care, for there are hundreds of children, young adults and families relying on us.

"If the communities we serve can support us now, while we lend a hand to our NHS, it would give us a huge boost at a most difficult time. We need support now more than ever.”