A service run by volunteers at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) has reached a new milestone - delivering more than 12,000 care package parcels to patients in hospital since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Parcels for Patients (P4P) service, set up to support inpatients unable to have visitors due to COVID-19, enables friends and relatives to deliver essential care packages to their loved ones via hospital volunteers. Friends and relatives can also collect items from patients on the wards via the service.

Friends and relatives can drop and collect parcels from Monday to Friday, 10:00–16:00, and Saturday and Sunday, 12:00–16:00 to the following locations:

• Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham’s main entrance, charity hub
• Good Hope Hospital’s Rehabilitation Orthopaedic and Rehab Centre entrance
• Heartlands Hospital’s main entrance

On arriving with packages, friends/relatives are asked to complete a form with the details of the patient and the package. All packages are thoroughly cleaned with wipes or wrapped in a material such as plastic so they can be cleaned, then sealed and labelled with the patient’s name and ward. 

Emma Hale, volunteer service lead said: "We are pleased to be able to support our patients and their loves ones to keep in touch at this challenging time and we are thrilled at how quickly the P4P scheme has grown in popularity. We can’t thank our volunteers enough for giving their time to help support this scheme."

P4P is one of several schemes introduced since the introduction of restricted visiting as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 450 iPads provided by UHB Charity are being used to facilitate "virtual visiting" for patients and their loved ones. The "Letters for Loved Ones" service also provides a way for loved ones to send messages, letters and photographs to their family members or friends in hospital.

For more information about the service, please email: Voluntary.Services@uhb.nhs.uk