Heartfelt messages sent from all over the world to hospital

More than 1,000 heartfelt messages have been sent from loved ones from all over the world to patients at East Surrey Hospital during the pandemic.

Friends, relatives – and even pets – have been able to keep in touch via a dedicated email service, developed during the height of the coronavirus crisis.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust which runs the hospital – which cares for people in Horsham and Crawley as well as across Surrey – has tried to enable visiting in person whenever possible over the past year.

But there have been times when visiting has been restricted to support infection control,

Teams have therefore been finding ways to help people keep in touch, and the patient messaging service is just one of them.

Patients on 28 different wards across the hospital have messages delivered daily and some are even read out by staff to patients being looked after in the intensive care unit.

A spokesman said: “During what is often a very emotional and unsettling time for families, letters of encouragement, spiritual prayers and support for the doctors and nurses caring for them too have been sent in over the last month.

“These are amongst stories and reflections of holidays and family events, as well as frequent lockdown updates – including the latest football scores, trips to the local supermarket, tales about the weather and homeschooling.”

As well as message from people throughout Surrey and Sussex, the hospital has also received correspondence from all over the world including Australia, France, the Philippines, Czech Republic, Penang in Malaysia and Canada.