Three Cheers for Christmas: Local charity donates hampers for patients over Christmas

Epsom and St Helier hospitals have teamed up with a local charity to help spread some Christmas cheer to patients going home alone from hospital over the festive season.

Epsom based charity Three Cheers for Cheers, formed in 2011, raise funds and collect donations throughout the year to go towards the creation of their Christmas hampers, which they put together especially for people who live alone, many of whom are elderly.

Lesley Scott, Patient Experience and Voluntary Services Manager, explained: “For some patients, being discharged from hospital can be a stressful and worrying time, especially if they are elderly and live alone. While staff do all they can to support patients as they leave hospital, being discharged over the holiday period can be more difficult, especially as many shops will be closed, which can make it hard to buy food.

“To help their transition from hospital to home, local charity Three Cheers for Cheers have donated 120 Christmas hampers to our hospitals, containing a variety of food and drink (including a few festive treats!). We have been fortunate enough to receive these donations for the last few years, and they really do make a huge difference to our patients.”

Rowena Gregory, Founder and Chairman of Three Cheers for Cheers, explained why the charity’s work is so important: “However good the support network of friends and family people can normally rely on, these are sometimes not available at this time of year so any elderly patients, or people who are going home alone, regardless of their age, might find their discharge especially difficult. It is nice for people to know that someone is thinking of them.

“Some of the hampers donated this year have something extra special about them, as pupils from Tweeddale Primary School and Avenue Primary School kindly decorated some of the boxes to give them a special festive look! The team and I really enjoy putting the hampers together and are delighted that they are so well received each year.”

On receiving this year’s supply of festive hampers, Chief Executive Daniel Elkeles said: “This is the fifth Christmas that Three Cheers for Cheers has made this wonderful donation for our patients, which is not only an incredibly touching gesture, but one that makes a real difference. It was particularly nice to see some of this year’s hampers decorated by local schoolchildren, which I am sure gave both the children and the patients an additional source of enjoyment!

“On behalf of the trust and our patients, I would like to thank Rowena and all at Three Cheers for Cheers, as well as the schoolchildren who decorated the hampers, for the thought, time and effort that went into the creation of each hamper.”