With the island placed into a lockdown due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Hospice Isle of Man has been faced with challenges both to how it cares for the terminally ill and how it raises much needed funds.

Chief executive Anne Mills told reporter Sam Turton that while the lockdown has presented difficulties such as losing its shop revenue, it has also seen its care in the community plans put into action.

Throughout the pandemic, one of the major changes at Noble’s Hospital has been restricting, or in some cases, banning visitors.

Hospice Isle of Man has worked hard to find a way to allow families to say goodbye.

That largely has taken the form of a named visitor or having to stop visits depending on the number of people in a unit.

Mrs Mills said: ’One of the things we do, from a compassionate point of view, is that if someone is at the end of their life, so for example maybe there’s two sisters, then we would be offering one of them to sit in.

’But they would have to stay for the whole duration of the time, because we’ve got adjacent rooms and we could cater for that, so that a person can have somebody with them.

’But they’d then have to go home and isolate.

’So the difficulty people are facing right now is deciding "am I the one who’s going to stay out and call or go on an iPad but I can go to the funeral or am I going to be the one who sits in the room but I can’t go the funeral".’

So far, Hospice has not had a Covid-19 case.

Its staff have been working with the Department of Health and Social Care providing its expertise in end of life care to staff at Noble’s and in the community.

A noticeable shift for Hospice has been an increase in people wanting to remain at home, which Mrs Mills attributes to people being ’a bit more nervous about going into hospitals and institutions at the moment’.

’All of our staff and all of our resources are supporting people have end of life care at home’, she added.

’It’s an interesting world we’re living in at the moment and all our of team are geared up with all the PPE for going into people’s houses.

’We’ve been working with the DHSC on that and they’ve been exceptionally helpful in supporting us as a charity to make sure we’re geared up.’

Focussing on community care is becoming more of a key aspect of Hospice care, with more people indicating they want to be remain at home for as long as possible rather than go into Hospice.

While the Covid-19 lockdown is far from a normal situation, Mrs Mills said that it has given Hospice a chance to ’test to the maximum’ how it functions with providing community care.

This has seen group therapies and outpatient appointments being managed by telephone and video calls.

Rather than seeing fewer people taking part, more residents have seen it as a chance to get involved from their own homes and socialising with others.

The closure of the charity’s stores and warehouse had left a big dent in finances as with ’almost 100% reduction in income from the shops during this period’ as it can’t accept or sell any items.

Mrs Mills added: ’We kept our staff on as we have repairs and different things to do in shops which you can’t do when they’re full anyway.

’So, obviously doing social distancing, we kept every body on. But that was at a cost.’

Hospice Isle of Man makes about £500,000 per year from its shops, meaning every month of lockdown is costing over £41,000.

Staff within the warehouses and shops have also been found new work, with some of the delivery team now delivering things to some volunteers who are now isolated at home as many of them are of a more mature age.

Not being able to accept furniture or clothing is also a problem for Hospice and those who donate items to it.

Mrs Mills said: ’If you’ve been spring cleaning, just leave it to the side and we’re really looking forward to having that when we get back to normal.

’I think a lot of people at home have been taking the opportunity to spring clean so we’re looking forward to that influx.’

While the shops have closed, there are other ways people can donate to Hospice and maybe even win themselves some money while doing it.

Some residents who would usually go into the Hospice shops for a browse or buy books and other items have been sending cheques to the charity.

And Hospice has also added anew way to donate money, with a contactless swipe.

Residents can Tap2Donate using contactless cards or apps on their phone at Spar shops or Hospice shop windows across the island.

Hospice runs a monthly lottery, with a top prize of £1,000 with £300 and £150 also up for grabs on the third Wednesday of each month. Entries cost £5 per ticket either as a one off or a continuous entry.

To play, just go to www.hospice.org.im and follow the link on the ’Support Us’ tab at the top of the page.

Mrs Mills said: ’Every time we put a boost out, we get maybe 85 new plays, which is really helpful for us, because if you can’t come to the shops and you can’t buy from us or donate from us, then we’ve got to think about going more digital.’

Hospice Isle of Man is currently based in Southlands, Port Erin while refurbishment works are carried out on its main facility in Braddan.