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Keeping Christmas Special in our Hospitals

08 December 2021

Every patient at Leicester’s Hospitals will receive a gift on Christmas Day – despite continued Covid infection controls that mean we cannot accept presents from the public as we would have done pre-pandemic. 


Making Xmas Special

To keep Christmas special this year, Leicester Hospitals Charity and our dedicated team of hospital volunteers have been working hard to ensure patients won’t miss out. Over 3,000 gift bags have been funded by the charity and put together by volunteers, for all in-patients at Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester General and Glenfield Hospital on Christmas Day. 

 The bags are part of UHL’s annual Making Christmas Special campaign. Those for adults will contain things like puzzle books, chocolates, biscuits and body lotion, while the children’s bags will contain toys and treats. 

 Lisa Davies, Director of Leicester Hospitals Charity said: “We have adapted the annual ‘Making Christmas Special campaign’ to make sure everyone can still receive a present on Christmas Day in the safest possible way funded by the generous donations we have received over the past year.” 

 People who would normally bring gifts in and would like to support our hospitals this Christmas through a monetary donation instead are being asked to consider making a donation to the charity’s Chemotherapy Suite appeal, which is raising funds to create a new treatment area, increasing the number of chemotherapy beds by six. This will mean almost 4,000 more treatments can be given each year. 

 Lisa said: “We have launched the appeal with a £500,000 target to help the 7,600 people who are diagnosed with cancer each year in Leicestershire to get their treatment more quickly, and have a better quality of life. 

 “Every year we are amazed at how generous the community is wanting to give gifts for patients in our hospitals over Christmas but, for this year, we would ask if people would consider donating to our incredibly important appeal instead.”  

 Donations to this appeal can be made by clicking here.

 Visitors wanting to see their loved ones on Christmas Day will be asked to continue to use the current pre-booking process. Details on this area available here. We will also be encouraging video calls on the day where possible for family members that cannot travel to visit.



For more information on 'Making Christmas Special' please contact:

 communications@uhl-tr.nhs.uk