Respite nursing for Oxfordshire’s Sick Youngsters

Welcome to ROSY (Respite Nursing for Oxfordshire’s Sick Youngsters.) We fund additional respite nursing care at home for children with chronic, life-limiting or terminal illnesses in Oxfordshire. We also provide equipment for sick children which can improve their day-to-day lives, and a counseling service for families who are affected by having a child who is suffering from an illness requiring respite care.

Currently we fund 11 respite nurses and HCAs (Health Care Assistants) in Oxfordshire, to do the equivalent of 7 full time jobs in respite care for our ROSY families.

While we think it’s best for children with terminal or complex illness to be cared for at home, around familiar things like siblings, family and pets, it places a huge burden of care on their families, who are left to care for a child with very complex medical needs, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Until 2002, when ROSY began, there was only a tiny provision of extra help for parents who had sick children at home. ROSY was set up by Craig Milner, brother of Bev Wilson, one of the two part-time respite nurses who were struggling to cope with the respite nursing needs of the families in Oxfordshire nursing desperately sick children in their homes. These children were well looked after in hospital but the parents were very much on their own once the child was discharged, despite requiring 24 hour care.

All our respite nurses are chosen, trained and allocated by the NHS, which allows us to concentrate on raising the money to pay their salaries. There are no overheads, and most who work for ROSY, do so voluntarily. Which means that every penny raised goes towards paying for nursing care, equipment for the children, creating opportunities to bring our families together and making life easier for the ROSY families.

We are incredibly proud of everything we have managed to achieve over the last decade and a half. Please get in touch, donate, or take a look at the video from our supporter, Tom Hollander, below: