Festive joy for Worcestershire children at Orchard Service

The Christmas event, at Salwarpe Village Hall, Droitwich, had an inflatable Santa’s grotto, where each child met Santa and received a gift.

In addition to the grotto, there was a sensory corner filled with musical instruments, lights, mirrors, wooden toys, and textured balls for the children to enjoy.

Festive glitter tattoos, Christmas crafts including making cards and decorations, and a range of snacks were also on offer for families to relish.

The celebration was made possible via donations from BBC Inflatables Entertainment Worcestershire, Morrisons Droitwich Community Champion, and Menzies Distribution.

Orchard Service, provided by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, caters to children with complex, life-threatening, and limiting conditions in Worcestershire.

The service is the county's children's community nursing and palliative care team

The team collaborates extensively with GPs, hospital wards, paediatricians, health visitors, and school health nurses to mitigate unnecessary hospital admissions and foster early discharges.

Laura Phillimore, community health play specialist for Orchard Service said, “We know that having a child with a long term, complex or life limiting/threatening condition can sometimes make spending time as a family difficult.

"We hope that events such as this give families an opportunity to come together and enjoy activities, in a relaxed environment, adapted to support the needs of the children in attendance."

Orchard Service leverages charitable donations to organise regular events like these and also offer memory boxes for families after the tragic loss of a child.

The service provides holistic care to patients with a nursing need, which can be an acute illness or a long term complex health need.

The care needs of individuals are assessed in partnership with children, young people and their families, so that the individual needs are agreed in a plan of on-going care