Celebrating Christmas safely in our hospitals

> Due to Covid-19, visiting is currently restricted in our hospitals. Read more here.

It goes without saying that this has been a year like no other, and sadly Covid is going to affect how we are able to celebrate Christmas in our hospitals.

Things will look a little different this year.

While Christmas trees will still be on show at our Bournemouth, Poole, and Christchurch hospitals, they will not be found in ward areas.

Decorations will unfortunately not be displayed in clinical and non-clinical areas, or communal areas such as our restaurants, atriums, and reception areas, but local exceptions will be made for children’s and long stay areas, with the help of our infection prevention control team.

Regrettably, we do not have the capacity to safely store gifts from patients and their families, so we have asked that for this year, if you would like to make a donation to our hospitals, please visit our charity pages; www.poolehospitalcharity.co.uk and www.bhcharity.org, where you can find out how to make a donation .

Our charities will be funding for presents so that every patient in our hospitals on Christmas Day will receive a little festive treat, and our fundraising teams are currently running a number of online events, including Poole Hospital's Elf Service and Virtual Elf Dash, and Bournemouth Hospital's Reindeer Run.

Additionally, if you can spare any money to support Macmillan Caring Locally Christmas Appeal, which is raising funds for palliative care patients at Christchurch Hospital’s Mac Unit, it would be gratefully received. And if you would like to support Forest Holme Hospice, you can find out more about their Christmas pop-up shop here. 

To keep up to date with our latest news and festive posts on our social media, visit our Twitter and Facebook pages. And if you would like to send a video message or photo of goodwill and thanks to our colleagues, we would love to feature it in our wellbeing advent calendar. Either tag us @UHD_NHS in your tweet uding the hash tag #TisTheSeasonToCare, or drop us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This is a Christmas like no other, in what has been an unprecedented year, and we hope you can understand our reasons for celebrating the festive season as safely as possible for the benefit of our staff, patients, and visitors.

Thank you for your continued support.