Pam spoke to a number of staff members and several patients as part of the filming, including patient John Thrussell, from Bromley.
We were delighted to appear on Songs of Praise on Sunday 11 February. The episode, presented by Pam Rhodes and aired on BBC One at 1.15pm. It is available to watch on BBC iPlayer for the next 11 months. Watch it by clicking here.
Pam spoke to a number of staff members and several patients as part of the episode, including patient John Thrussell, from Bromley, and Margaret Jones on our in-patient unit.
John is being cared for at home by our community team and a visit from Clinical Nurse Specialist Mary Watson was filmed for the episode.
Viewers learned how the majority of St Christopher’s work takes place in the community – in people’s homes and in care homes.
The programme also visited our in-patient unit at our Sydenham site and included an interview with Rose Remedios, a nurse who worked with Dame Cicely Saunders and who featured in a previous episode of the programme when it last visited St Christopher’s in 1988.
That episode focused on palliative care and included an interview with Dame Cicely.
Songs of Praise is one of the BBC’s longest running programmes having been a firm favourite of viewers since 1961.
Rev Dr Andrew Goodhead, Spiritual Care Lead at St Christopher’s, said:
“As the first modern hospice, St Christopher’s has always been a beacon for the hospice movement across the world.
“From medicine and nursing, to therapies, social and spiritual support, we provide care to patients, families and those important to them. We were delighted to share some of that work with the Songs of Praise team.
“So much of our work is only possible thanks to the fundraising efforts of our community and we hope our appearance on the BBC reminds people of the importance of supporting your local hospice.”
John Thrussell, who is being supported at home by the hospice’s community team, said:
“We watch Songs of Praise every week and so do most of our friends so we were thrilled when they asked.
“I love the choral music and I sing along to the older ones, and some of the words just stay with you forever.”
“In every way, every day St Christopher’s have been a real help to us and helped us through some really dark times so it was great to give something back.”
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This article is republished from the St Christopher’s website with permission.
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