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Thanks to one of our new Corporate supporters – Leaders in Care – we have an all-inclusive Fredericks ice cream van arriving at the hospice on the 9th of July at 2pm!
Please don’t fill up on lunch and save room for ice cream – the Leaders in Care team have pledged to support us with various fundraising activities during the rest of the year and will be visiting us to discuss their plans.
Get it in your diary and feel free to indulge in some frozen creamy goodness on the day thanks to their generosity!
Good afternoon everyone,
Below is a link to an IT Training needs assessment form.
We are looking to ensure all staff are comfortable using the current I.T software systems we have in place. Please answer honestly as it means we can review the responses and provide group training as required.
I am conscious the Care Team did something similar recently however just to clarify, this is different and we are looking for the Care Team to complete.
We are aiming for 100% completion on this as we wouldn’t want people to be missed. Thank you in advance everyone.
Our new Victorian Greenhouse has completed building works up in Smile Park, with Gareth now busy filling it with plants, herbs, spices and more!
We’re sure you’ll all agree that it looks amazing, and we can’t wait to get our children and young people using it.
A huge thanks to Harley Botanic for all of their hard work.
Dear Colleague,
Our Trustee Board meeting took place via Microsoft Teams on the 14th June 2021 and we had a packed agenda of discussion points and approvals. Prior to the main Board Meeting we also held the Annual General Meetings (AGMs) for the Hospice Charity and also our Shops Business to approve the accounts.
Before we commenced the Board sessions we were joined by our Patron, KiKi DeVille and her colleague, Angus Powell. Both KiKi and Angus are working on the amazing and unique ‘Keepsake Circle’ which is song writing with a group of bereaved Derian families. It was emotional to hear some of the first songs and as soon as we are able we will be sharing these with all of you. We are indebted to them for this unique offering to our families that truly demonstrates why we are Outstanding!
It was announced whilst we were in the Board that the 21st June target for reducing COVID restriction further was to be extended to the 19th July. I do not think this was a surprise to many of us, but of course it is very disappointing as we all hoped for normality to return. COVID is still a focus for the Board and the Senior Management Team (SMT) ensuring we maintain our COVID-Secure process and procedures. We ask everyone to continue to follow these for the maximum safety of our families and each other.
We discussed the continued restoration of our services and it is great to see that we are now operating the majority of activities. It is a credit to everyone at Derian House that we have managed to offer our support to our children, young people and families throughout this pandemic. We also learned that we now have many of our non-clinical teams back at the Hospice and they are enjoying seeing their colleagues again.
The Board reviewed and approved a number of important proposals at this meeting and I will summarise these below.
We are delighted to inform you that the Board approved a 2% salary increase which will be backdated to the 1st April 2021. The increase will be reflected in your July salary. As many of you will be aware, we usually follow the same uplift as given to NHS staff but this announcement has not yet been made. You may have seen in the press that the original proposal for the NHS is 1%, however, this is currently under review. We are keeping a close eye on the pay reviews within the NHS and should anything be agreed that exceeds the 2% we have agreed, we will further review our award.
One of the other proposals we approved stems from the feedback you have given in our staff surveys on our ECO strategy and carbon footprint. In light of those comments the SMT have engaged with a company, Planet Mark, who will work closely with us on reducing our carbon footprint to look after our planet. We are keen to involve every team in this work, so watch this space for details of how you can become involved.
We have also approved an SMT proposal to carry out a viability study to assess the need for a new regional wellbeing centre, led by Derian – very exciting times!!
Our new 2021-2024 headline Strategic Aims have now been agreed and David will share these with you very soon. The SMT will now work on the detail of these Aims which will drive our ambitions and plans for the coming three years. We have also agreed the wording on each Aim with punchier wording and a focus in the first Aim of Providing Outstanding Care. Our recent Needs Assessment has driven many of the Aims as this is the feedback received directly from our families. It is also representative of the wider commissioning community and what they need from Derian House.
The Board would like to thank everyone for their commitment, hard work, continued focus and support. Remember to look after yourselves and your families as we continue through these turbulent times.
Karen Swindley
Chair of Trustees
Hello everyone,
You told us (in staff temperature checks and at the We are Derian forum) that you wanted better communication between departments.
As part of this, we will now be providing a round-up after each SMT meeting of the most important/interesting points talked about!
- We have successfully recruited three trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioners who will join our current three ACPs – one is due to start in August and the other two will begin in January 2022.
- The first stage of EMIS is due to be rolled out imminently.
- We are making lots of new partnerships with other organisations, including working with Central Lancashire CCG to develop a local strategy to improve paediatric palliative care, working with other hospices on improving transition services locally and also collaborating with local nursing teams and other charities including Rainbow Trust.
- Our new Blackburn shop is hoping to be opened on 26 July (date TBC).
- Please can everyone fill out their Birdsong staff survey. We know it doesn’t seem very long since the last temperature check, but it’s really important that we get a good response rate so we can understand where we are. Everyone should speak to their line manager to be given 15 minutes “off shift” to complete it. Deadline is 27 June.
- IT reminder: Sam is very busy. If you have any IT issues that haven’t been solved or you cannot get hold of Sam, please let Luke know. He will be able to prioritise Sam’s workload. The new laptop rollout will recommence after a brief pause.
- Facilities: work is ongoing to provide EV charging points in the car park – a proposal has gone to the board of trustees for approval.
- Our Board of trustees will meet tonight Monday (14 June) with key decisions on the agenda a viability study for a new Derian Wellbeing Centre and our Go Green proposal which will see us looking at how we can become kinder to the environment. Luke will be leading the project but it will require one person from every team to be involved and a working group to be formed. If anyone is interested please let Luke know.
- Our new greenhouse has been completed this weekend and looks great!
- Our two new holiday lodges at South Lakeland Holiday Village in Carnforth are being built and we should be able to officially open at an event in late August (TBC)
- Work started on the new gardening pod today (Monday 14 June) and will be ongoing for three weeks – if you want a look it’s in the woodland walk area close to the memorial fountain.
Manchester City’s kit man has put a Range Rover for sale on eBay that was gifted by the departing club legend Sergio Aguero, with 5% of funds raised coming to Derian House.
Aguero organised a raffle for staff before saying his emotional goodbyes and joining Barcelona as a free agent last week. Before he left, Ally Marland, a popular member of the backroom staff since he joined in 2012, was the lucky winner and embraced the Argentine when he was handed the keys in the car park.
Ally and his wife Nicky already have two cars so they have decided to put the 2016 Range Rover Evoque – valued at £40,000 – on eBay with a starting price of £23,000.
The Range Rover only has 10,500 miles on the clock and is expected to fetch a good price online.
A total of five per cent of the sale will be donated to Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley as a kind gesture from the couple.
The 2021 Birdsong Staff Survey is now open.
Please click on the link below to take part;
Apologies that the time between surveys feels short however Birdsong is managed externally and this year it has been released earlier than previous years.
The questionnaire will only take around 10 minutes to complete and includes additional sections on E&D and also COVID.
The survey closes Sunday 27th June 2021 so please make sure you have completed the questionnaire by then.
Thank you in advance for your help with the process. We are committed to making Derian a better place to work and we need your honest opinions to help us improve.
Any questions please feel free to ask either David or myself.
Over the past five weeks, UCLan student Gareth Davies has been on a role-emerging placement at Derian House as part of his second-year studies to become an Occupational Therapist.
During his time at the hospice, Gareth has carried out various activities with our children and young people, as well as holding numerous sessions with our team to see if the role of an OP would fit in here at Derian.
Here’s what Gareth had to say about his time at Derian House:
It’s been a real pleasure to have spent the past five weeks on my role emerging placement with the children, families and staff at Derian House.
I’ve gained so much from being in the supportive and nurturing environment and hope that sharing my own knowledge and skills with you has been as beneficial. A role-emerging placement is an opportunity to scope how occupational therapy could strengthen the services an organisation provides. In only a brief time I have been able to identify the areas OT could complement the care Derian House offers, and have shared with the team the benefits OT can have for themselves, the children, young people, families and carers accessing the hospice. I hope that the work I have completed gives a foundation for future OT students to further promote the profession and build a case for an in house therapist.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks, but I have felt at home and welcomed. I’ll be back to see you all again soon!
Dear Derian House Colleagues,
I hope my message finds everyone well, it really has been so nice to have some freedoms returned as we can start to meet friends and family and live a little more of a normal life. Clearly, we still have more hurdles to negotiate but hopefully we can continue to progress out of lockdowns, welcome more families to Derian House and re-introduce more services. It has been really nice to see the hospice getting busier and as we entered the next phase allowed staff from across the two building to visit each other whilst still meeting the COVID-Secure requirements.
We have been working on our new Strategic Aims which we hope will be signed off and approved at the next Board meeting with the Trustees on the 14th June. Our Aims set the agenda for what we do across the hospice and how we develop and grow our services, the needs assessment I shared with you in my last update has influenced many aspects of the planning. We have very exciting times ahead as we continue to progress the work Derian House does across our geographical reach for those families who need us.
Our Open Garden event was a huge success with many people visiting our lovely grounds, the feedback was brilliant and thanks to Gareth and the Facilities Team alongside staff and volunteers for making it so successful. We have another event in early August when we will showcase the new greenhouse and garden pod, hopefully this will be a more open event allowing more people to learn about Derian House.
Work is well underway with the greenhouse and we expect full installation to be around the 14th June, the works have also now commenced on the new garden pod in the wooded area. I am sure you will all agree these will be great additions to our gardens and will allow for more outdoor activities for everyone.
Our review of Culture and Values sessions concluded in May although Ben and I still need to present to our retail colleagues and we hope to get this in the diary very soon. We will be re-commencing sessions in late Summer or early Autumn to talk about the D.E.R.I.A.N as we enter year four of the culture and values, in the year four sessions we will visit the meaning of each value and how we continue to embed these in to Derian House.
Income Generation will set a lot of changes over the coming weeks as Kevin Bedford’s retirement has prompt changes to our senior management structure and also the team structures. I will be sending out an update to everyone very soon sharing what we have planned and how things will work. The world of fundraising has changed dramatically through the pandemic and we need to lead the way to drive the all-important income we need as a charity.
We have a lot of other things happening around commissioning, statutory funding, joint working and all of these raise our profile and allow us to reach more families, when I have more information to share I will add this to my monthly update.
Can I please remind everyone that data protection is vitally important and everyone’s responsibility no matter which area you work, please protect Derian House by ensuring you are up to date with all policies in this area and keep data secure
Hopefully after the 21st June I can recommence my coffee and chat sessions where colleagues from across the hospice can meet with me and ask me anything – Jacquie will send invitations out when we can.
I hope you have fund this message useful, thank you to everyone for your continued hard work and keep safe,
David
Today marks the start of #VolunteersWeek, a chance to say thanks to over 100 superstars who donate their time to help us here at Derian House.
In 2019 (pre-pandemic), our trusty team of volunteers gave us 10,000 hours of their time, saving us a huge £80,000 that can be spent on the ongoing care of our children, young people and their families.
Whether it’s minutes or months, hours or days, the time they give us really makes a difference.
Thomas Hardie Commercials Ltd is raising money for Derian House Children’s Hospice with its eye-catching new vehicle!
The new Volvo Trucks FH Globetrotter demonstrator sits at the centre of the dealer’s ‘Drive it for Derian’ campaign and will be unmissable on the roads with its bright yellow and green design featuring the infamous Derian House mascot, Danni.
Every customer that takes the vehicle will be invited to make a voluntary donation towards the campaign, with the Volvo dealer planning to raise at least £5,000 across the year.
Read about how Thomas Hardie came up with this unique fundraising idea by visiting our blog post below:
Welcome everyone to your new Intranet. We hope you find your way around it well (and that you like your passwords ;-))
Please keep your usernames and passwords handy, because these can’t be changed easily and it’s essential we have them due to the Intranet sitting on an external server so it can be edited and updated. Should you need help getting about, the guide below will be sure to put your mind at eased and get used to it quickly.
Any questions, please email cameron.murray@derianhouse.co.uk, and please let me know if you’d like your upcoming meetings/events/activities adding to the Diary.
As part of our transition to digital working we are moving over to digital payslips.
You will receive login instructions for your digital payslip account directly from Moorepay (our payroll provider) so please keep an eye out for that email in the coming weeks.
The digital account will be set up with your work email address and you will able to access from work or home.
In June you will receive your final paper payslip and in July you will no longer receive paper payslips at all.
Ben will send a further email to all staff when Moorepay have begun the process of sending out communication.
Good morning everyone,
Following the government announcements and easing of lockdown, we are pleased to say we are putting measures in place to allow more social mixing from Monday (17th May 2021).
All staff will now be on the lateral flow testing programme and therefore mixing between Vinten Place and the Hospice is allowed aside from the children’s bedroom corridors.
If you have not yet received your box of lateral flow tests at the time of reading this email, please see me ASAP and do not socially mix between buildings until you have begun your testing programme.
There are certain restrictions that need to remain in order to keep our children, young people and families safe therefore please may I ask all staff to familiarise themselves with the Covid-19 Building Risk Assessment and the associated Covid Safe Building Guidance document available on the intranet.
When moving between buildings we ask everyone to continue to follow the rules including;
- Wearing a mask
- Washing your hands upon entry to the Hospice
- Sanitise your hands upon entry to Vinten Place
- No entry to clinical areas
- Maintain social distancing
Thank you everyone for your commitment and hard work. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to speak to myself or Luke Bateson.
On Sunday 9th May, we welcomed members of the public behind our gates for the very first time as part of the National Garden Scheme’s Open Gardens Event.
From 9 ’til 5, we had 20 people per hour exploring our gardens and finding out more about Derian House. For many, this was their first time visiting, and the general feedback was that people couldn’t believe just how big our hospice grounds are!
Many of our volunteers were here at Derian for the first time in almost 15 months, and they really appreciated being back and helping us raise awareness of our worthy cause. From manning stalls and marshaling the gardens, to serving refreshments and greeting people on the reception base, they did a sterling job and their help was very much appreciated.
Shuna our Pets as Therapy dog was very happy to be back, and her humans told us that when she’s been out on walks during the past year, she has been desperately trying to sniff at children who she passes as she’s been missing our children and young people at Derian so much!
We can’t thank Gareth and his trusty team of volunteers enough for all of their hard work over the past few months, getting our gardens spick and span ready for Sunday’s successful (and sell-out) event.
The general public were really touched by the sheer brilliance of our grounds, and we’re looking forward to welcoming more of them back on Sunday 8th August for an even bigger and better Open Gardens Event.
Ageism, also called age discrimination, is when you are treated unfavourably because of your age.
Under the Equality Act, you are protected from age discrimination in all aspects of your employment at Derian House including recruitment, employment terms and conditions, promotions and transfers and trainings. The Equality Act protects you from direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
So how do we ensure we do not discriminate against age?
Recruitment – When advertising a job role, we do not include age limits, and we avoid using words which could suggest we are looking for applicants from a particular age group – for example, by using terms such as ‘10 years’ experience’ or ‘enthusiastic young people’. We also don’t ask for dates of birth on any application document until the point when an offer has been made and we are compiling the candidates full personal details.
Terms and Conditions – Our terms and condition remain standardised regardless of age, gender or any other factor. Certain aspects of someone’s terms and conditions may change over time as a reward for length of service (for example annual leave). However, all staff begin employment on the same contract dependant on your area of work.
Promotions and training – With a key value to nurture and develop our people we ensure that all staff receive person centred development. Learning opportunities are offered to all staff based upon developmental need or talent management and we ensure that all staff have the ability to apply for training funding regardless of department. If you are unsure on how to apply for funding, please speak to your line manager of HR. Internal Promotions are always based upon merit and are earnt and are another way in which we nurture and develop our people. We have a clear policy on where there is more than one candidate that meets the criteria for a proposed role, we advertise.
At Derian House we have zero tolerance on any kind of discrimination. If you feel you or someone you work with is a victim of discrimination, please speak to the HR department.
By taking part in Dying Matters Week, we are hoping to raise awareness amongst our staff of the contribution of all teams in providing an empathetic and seamless services to our families and their loved ones at a very difficult time.
We hope to establish the importance of not only facilitating our children and young people to have a good life but also provide them the opportunity for a good death.
Life is about quality, not quantity, and Derian House is a key element to enhancing the quality of the experience of the child, young person and their family.
Below, you will find all the dates and times of the North West Clinical Networks’ webinars. Our own timetable is attached underneath, where different departments in Derian will be delivering their own seminars for others to attend and find out more about what they do when a child or young person dies.
Derian House – Dying Matters Week
For more information, please speak to Siobhan McCoy or any of the Team Leaders.
Please find the link below to this quarters Staff Survey Temperature check.
The survey will be open until Sunday 16th May 2021.
Hello you! Yes you, reading this – we’d love your help if you’re free on Sunday 9th May!
We’ll be opening the gardens at Derian House for the very first time, giving the general public the rare opportunity to visit our colourful and vibrant outdoor spaces as part of the National Garden Scheme.
There will be homemade cakes and refreshments available to purchase as well as the chance to speak to our passionate volunteers and even meet Shuna the dog.
The team from Hartley Botanic will also be on-site to talk about our exciting new greenhouse project.
Tickets have now sold out twice over, so we’re now looking for extra volunteers on the day to give a few hours of their time and assist in serving refreshments, manning the carpark, supporting the retail and knitted stalls, or being a garden marshel.
If you’d like to help out, please drop our Volunteer Services Coordinator Fran a message. Thank you!
We’ve had an influx of new team members in recent weeks, and we are delighted to introduce three more! Here are Fazila, Adam and Katie.
Fazila Patel (Family Counsellor)
Fazila is our new Family Counsellor here at the hospice, and she’ll be working Mondays, Tuesdays and the odd weekend day too. She’s always loved working with children and young people, and for the last 16 years it’s not just been her career, but her passion.
Despite working in a range of environments including education, sexual health, and within the community, she’s never worked in a hospice, which is something Fazila has always wanted to do but never felt ready for. The post came up at Derian House and she thought it would be an incredible opportunity to support families, as it’s a more holistic approach in comparison to her other job which is working as part of an online community called Kooth, where children and young people can access anonymous care and support.
The fast-paced and totally varied aspect of Fazila’s work for Kooth will compliment her new role at Derian House, where she’s looking forward to focusing on bespoke and tailor-made client-centred counselling in a compassionate and caring environment.
Outside of work, Fazila loves travelling, exploring new cultures and cuisine (which includes finding quirky coffee houses!), spending time with her family and mostly just having fun!
Adam Gosling (Clinical Support Worker)
Adam is one of three new clinical support workers to start at Derian House. He only moved up to our neck of the woods a whole week ago from Lincoln, as he’s crossed counties from the West Midlands with his girlfriend.
His previous work has consisted of him working with children and young people with autism and challenging behaviour. After studying Health & Social Care at college, Adam went to Holland for a month to work in a primary school. He was aware of Derian House due to his girlfriend who works at AO.com – they have done a lot of work for us in recent years in our gardens, even sponsoring our very own Smile Park.
When he’s not at work, Adam spends much of his spare time in the gym, playing football, or at music festivals.
Katie McKnight (Clinical Support Worker)
Katie is another newbie not from this part of town! After finishing her degree at Liverpool University in Psychology and completing her teacher training, she relocated from the Isle of Man and now lives in Wigan. Katie has previously worked at a residential home for children, and wanted to come to Derian as it’s a place where she can improve her skills and really make a difference.
She’s mostly looking forward to getting to know our staff, volunteers and children here at the hospice.
Outside of work, Katie also enjoys going to the gym and is part of the Ormskirk Rugby Union team!
As always, please ensure you make yourselves known to our new starters and give them a wave!
Diversity is all about what makes us individual – wouldn’t life be boring if we were all exactly the same? Across the world and even in our community at Derian House there’s a range of ages, ethnicity, languages, and genders.
While it’s important to be racially tolerant, it’s also worth remembering that there is a whole spectrum of diversity. Sometimes there are things you can’t see, like sexuality or religion, that makes people “different” to ourselves.
The important thing is to always accept and respect everyone else, even if they do, see, and believe things differently — this is called inclusion. There are some people in our world who only like others who look and believe the same as them. This is a prejudice: thinking badly of someone before you even know them, just because of something like their religion or sexuality.
Promoting and supporting diversity at work is really important to us. It’s part of being an outstanding charity and it shows that we value each other as individuals.
A diverse workforce means a place where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential. The law sets minimum standards but at Derian House we go beyond what we legally have to do because welcoming everyone with open arms is what we stand for. It adds value to us as a charity and helps employees wellbeing too.
It’s important to recognize that a ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t mean fairness and equality for everyone as some people have different needs, values and beliefs.
Legally, there are a number of protected characteristics. In the UK, these are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. It’s against the law to treat anybody unfairly based on these differences.
Over the year we’ll be looking at each characteristic in more detail to understand what this means for us and how it may affect us.
It’s an exciting day for Derian House retail, with our four shops across Lancashire back open for business after 14 weeks of lockdown restrictions forcing us to close up.
As we enter an exciting new era, we have two brand new shop managers in Leyland Preston taking the helm. Although you may not see them here at the hospice very often, please say hello and introduce yourselves if you see them in store.
Lyndsey Gornall (Leyland Shop Manager)
Our new Leyland Shop Manager previously worked, for many years, as a pet shop manager in St Helens. Prior to getting her new role at Derian House, Lyndsey also worked as a production manager for a beanbag manufacturer.
She also has a very personal connection to the hospice, as her step daughter Emily visits us for respite, and therefore Lyndsey has supported us for a long time. She knows firsthand just what we mean to families, and has a lot of love for the services that we provide.
When the shops reopen today, Lyndsey is most looking forward to getting the community spirit back and promoting Derian House to our lovely customers!
Outside of work, Lyndsey is finishing a languages degree in the evenings – she can speak an impressive three languages! Between her and her partner, they have five children which keep them busy, alongside two skunks, three cats, a Rottweiler, a Pomeranian, a snake, and a lizard!
Matt Mears (Preston Shop Manager)
Our new Preston Shop Manager has worked in the travel industry for most of his life, and actually worked with our Chief Exec, David, which is how he knew about Derian House.
Matt saw a clip about us on North West Tonight which sparked an interest in how Derian has grown over the years, and in turn led him to apply for the job at our Preston store. He’s looking forward to putting his own stamp on the shop as it wasn’t open long before going into lockdown, so it’s an exciting opportunity for he and his team.
He also has a background in vinyl, so is looking to expand our Discogs network and get some more records on sale in our shops. He’s looking forward to meeting new people and getting customers in the store!
Matt has three children between him and his partner, and loves going to gigs and camping when he can. Interestingly, both himself and Lyndsey are taking on ‘Dive for Derian’ this summer… it must be an initiation for new members of our retail team!
We are delighted to announce that all of our shops are now OPEN after 14 weeks of lockdown. A huge ‘Good luck’ goes out to all of our retail teams today in Horwich, Chorley, Preston, Leyland and the Warehouse in Adlington.
Dear Derian House Colleagues,
Another month of lockdown has passed and it has been great to see the hospice busy in all areas, as we enter April we will start to see the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions which I am sure everyone is delighted about. It also allows us to review services and continue to expand what we can offer to families, I know everyone is working on their plans across all of our care teams and we will continue to get busier.
With the Easter weekend coming it is time to start thinking of Spring and hopefully warmer days and lighter nights, and this allows us to offer more activities outdoors. We are seeing more families requesting to use the garden for a visit and we will also be having a National Garden Scheme open day on the 9th May where the public can come and visit Derian House’s gardens, this will raise our profile and the work we do.
Our shops will reopen on the 12th April after being closed for over 3 months, we are sure they will be very busy so if you haven’t yet done so – why not have a spring clean and send retail some clothes, bric-a-brac or other items for us to sell.
Across all our non-clinical areas everyone has been working on new plans to increase the Derian profile and message to the wider community, we have a lot of plans and here are just a few things coming soon …
- Greenhouse works started with the tree felling (most had Ash die-back and needed to come down anyway), the base will be installed very soon and we still plan to have this completed by mid-June.
- Garden Pod to be used for counselling or other meetings, this will be built within the wooded area, we will have a date for this shortly.
- Memorial Fountain, we hope to have the initial plans which we will share with the bereaved parent group after Easter, once we have agreed the design we will share with everyone.
- New Laptop rollout has started, Sam and Jacquie will be in touch as we move through this activity.
- Coffee and Chat and Keeping in Touch meetings returning (safely) hopefully after 17th May.
- Culture and Values journey continues, after the 12th April anyone who had not attended the sessions in late 2020 will be invited to these sessions very soon.
- May will see our new campaign with a story focusing on Derian on Holiday and one of our families.
If you have not seen the March/April edition of Lancashire Life, there is a really nice 4 page article about Derian House with some lovely pictures.
I think nearly everyone has now had their second vaccination and of course all staff and eligible volunteers have been offered the jab. It is great to see such a huge uptake with over 90% of our staff now being vaccinated. I would repeat the advice we are receiving that we should still follow the advice to wear face masks, socially distances and regularly hand wash and of course we have our lateral flow testing in place as well.
Everyone has remained focused at this very challenging time, the Senior Team and I thank you all for your support and following the Derian Values – as one team we have done an exceptional job in keeping our hospice open and ready to support those who need us at this unprecedented time.
Thank You to everyone and keep safe
David
A summer of UK ‘Staycations’ has been given the greenlight! Book your 2021 or 2022 trip with Charitable Travel and you can donate 5% of your holiday price to Derian House at no extra cost to you.
Charitable Travel is a social enterprise travel agent selling worldwide ATOL protected holidays at competitive prices. Each time you book with them, they sacrifice their travel agents’ commission to allow you to donate to charity.
Dear Derian House Colleagues,
Earlier this week was the National Day of Reflection to mark the anniversary of the first UK lockdown and reflect on our collective loss, support those who have been bereaved and hope for a brighter future.
I hope you had chance at some stage through the day to reflect on how the last 12 months have affected you, your family and friends and also those around you both at work and in the wider community.
Reflecting on the past 12 months I feel a sense of pride in the whole team at Derian House, it has been challenging with constantly changing advice, regulation and information. The whole management team appreciate how impactful the pandemic has been on everyone from the CYP and families, our staff and volunteers, key stakeholders such as our local NHS Trust & CCGs and the wider community who support us.
As we follow the latest news and government updates there does seem to be a light shining in the future, we now need to remain focused and aware that the virus is still around. Everyone at Derian has been offered the vaccine and I am delighted to say that the uptake has been amazing – thank you, this together with our lateral flow testing and other COVID-Secure measures continue to protect our CYP and each other.
We still have a way to go before some form of normality returns but together as one Derian Team we will get through this, please continue to support each other every day.
See you around the Hospice and if anyone has any questions, as always, please just stop me at the hospice or pop me an email.
Many thanks and keep safe.
David