A CHAPLAIN has set up a helpline during the coronavirus pandemic, passing messages to hospital patients who cannot see their families.

Lead chaplain David Southall has set up a patient and relative emotional support helpline together with change management consultant Miriam Knight. The helpline provides assistance for county patients and their families, including at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, offering a listening ear during a time when hospital ward visiting is restricted.

Rev Southall said: “These are difficult times and we have to think in creative ways about how to support relatives and patients who can’t see their loved ones when hospital visiting is so limited due to the Covid-19 outbreak.”

The support line will run 24 hours a day and seven days a week. It will provide a listening service and emotional support as well as being able to signpost callers to other helping services within Worcestershire.

Rev Southall said: “If you have someone you are concerned about in the hospital and want someone to listen to you, then this phone line can help.

"We are here for those patients and relatives who are unable to see one another due to the current situation. We can relay messages, hear peoples stories and provide support in what, for many, is a very distressing time.”

Rev Southall described the challenges of supporting people through the crisis, calling it 'a tough few days'.

He said: "I received a call to go down to pray with someone with coronavirus who was at the end of his life. Mask, gown, gloves.

"And I received a phone call from relatives who wanted to get messages to their dad who was in hospital. They emailed me what they wanted to say and I dutifully went up to the ward. Mask gown and gloves.

"I read out these heartfelt personal messages to him which caused tears to stream down his face.

"Of course the numbers are important. But it is the individual in front of you who counts for so much more; their family, hobbies, life.

If we lose sight of that, then we have lost sight of humanity itself; the very essence of what being a human being means."

The Emotional Support Helpline will be staffed by chaplains and skilled volunteers and there will always be someone at the end of the line to listen and support.

The number is 0300 303 3544.