11 May 2020

Thanks to your generous donations, staff at Bristol city centre hospitals are trialing new cloth bags for returning patients’ belongings to their loved ones after they have died. The cloth bags – which carry the purple butterfly to signify compassion during bereavement – replace the use of plastic bags.

Sophia Bloor, lead nurse of end of life care at Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre, said: “We want to do all that we can to show compassionate and dignified care to patients and their families, especially at the end of life” 

“When a patient’s property is returned to their loved ones, it is often a very emotive time and we wanted to ensure that this act is compassionate, now more than ever.

“Up until now, we have had to use plastic bags which are not only environmentally damaging but also lack the dignity that we would wish to show for our patients and their loved ones.

“Sadly, many patients will be unable to have any visitors due to the coronavirus, even if they are at the end of their life. We hope that this offers some comfort and shows our compassion at this very difficult time.”

The bags will be piloted during the COVID-19 pandemic and the team hopes that eventually the end of life care ward champions will be able to use the bags for all patients who die in the hospitals.

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