Oakhaven Neighbours provide a friendly helping hand to patients

'Oakhaven Neighbours' are volunteers who support Oakhaven patients at home. This important team offers companionship and lends a helping hand with everyday tasks that can become overwhelming when navigating a life-limiting illness.

Neighbours are highly trained and supported by the clinical team at Oakhaven Hospice. They get involved with a variety of things, for example, picking up prescriptions, light shopping, gardening, accompanying for walks, and companionship or maybe sitting with a patient so that the carer can take a much-needed break, safe in the knowledge that their loved one is in good hands.

Ken, an Oakhaven patient, has written a number of books over the years but even with voice recognition it is becoming increasingly difficult. Sally, an Oakhaven neighbour, started visiting him in April 2025 to help prepare the manuscript for his book 'Tales Out Of The Blue'. This collection of short stories was self published in August 2025. The weekly visits have continued, and the second collection is well on the way. They both enjoy sharing the tales based on Ken's vivid imagination and many experiences in his life.

'Neighbours is a splendid element of Oakhaven's work'

Jerry, an Oakhaven Neighbour, explains how he first got involved as an Oakhaven Neighbour:

"In the late Spring of 2024 I found I had a little time on my hands, so arranged to become a 'Neighbour' with Oakhaven Hospice, and subsequently met Bill, an Oakhaven patient in Dibden Purlieu. Since then, we have met weekly for an hour or so, during which we discuss everything under the sun and generally put the world to rights. Bill's great passion is aviation, and my RAF background ensures we have a lot in common, but rarely does a topic arise that we can't resolve. Bill, I know, enjoys our sessions, and I most certainly do. An hour spent in his company is a real pleasure, as is, of course, the arrival halfway through them of his delightful wife with tea and Jammie Dodgers! Neighbours is a splendid element of Oakhaven's work. I wish I had been involved in it earlier."