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 ROSY was founded in 2002 there was very limited provision of respite nursing in the home, for parents with profoundly sick children. ROSY was set up by Craig Milner and his sister Bev Wilson, one of the two part time respite nurses who were struggling to cope with the respite nursing needs of Oxfordshire families. Children were well looked after in hospital but 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:

Appeal from Tom Hollander

The actor, Tom Hollander, the star of Rev and The Night Manager is one of our biggest supporters. His niece, Imogen was born with severe disability and ROSY helped care for her throughout her life. Here, he tells us what ROSY means to his family.

Follow us on Twitter

ROSY relies on your help to make money to pay our respite nurses, but we also rely on raising awareness about what we do too. We get the word out about many of our fundraising events via Facebook, Instragram and Twitter. So please follow us, retweet us and tell your friends.

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Donate to ROSY

We rely entirely on the goodwill and generosity of the public for our fundraising. You can donate using the button below and, if you are a UK tax payer, you can help us further by registering for Gift Aid, allowing us to claim an additional 25% from the Inland Revenue.

Cheques payable to ROSY can be sent to:  The Treasurer, ROSY, c/o Oxford Health Charity, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Warneford Hospital, Warneford Lane, Oxford OX3  7JX.

For further help or information contact us at: 

rosy@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk 

Donate Via Oxford Health Charity

And 100% of your donation goes directly to ROSY

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Register for Gift Aid

If you are a UK tax payer, by registering for Gift Aid means that for every £1 you donate to ROSY we can claim an extra 25p from the Inland Revenue. You can register online by clicking here.

Respite for Oxfordshire's Sick Youngsters

ROSY is a Support Group operating as a part of the Oxford Health Charity - Registered charity no. 1057285.

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