Wedding boxes made by Cambridgeshire hospitals for end-of-life patients

Helping with wedding wishes - critical outreach nurse practitioners Lois Kendall and Natasha Steels-Webb

Staff at two Cambridgeshire hospitals have created special boxes filled with donated wedding memorabilia, to help end-of-life patients "fulfil their wedding day dreams" at short notice.

The boxes at Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke hospitals contain items such as decorations, bunting and flowers that can be used in a ceremony.

"It is difficult to put into words what a difference these weddings make," said staff member Natasha Steels-Webb.

"You can see the appreciation."

Ms Steels-Webb, a critical outreach nurse practitioner in Peterborough, said she and her colleagues decided to create the boxes after a patient they were caring for became very unwell, and "it was clear she was not going to recover".

"She had been with her current partner for many years, but they just hadn't got around to getting married and this was something they both wanted," she said.

"We felt that we could do something to make future weddings even more special with decorative items, artificial flowers and balloons on standby for such an event."

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People have donated various items for the boxes and staff are looking to provide a directory of cake-makers, photographers and other businesses that could be called upon at short notice.

Wedding dresses and decorative items are also on the hospitals' wish-list of donations.

Ms Steels-Webb added: "It is difficult to put into words what a difference these weddings make, but you can see the appreciation in the eyes of the patient and their loved ones that you have been able to make a difference."

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both hospitals, said: "For many couples, planning their dream wedding can take months of preparation, but for others time is precious, and the teams are helping end-of-life patients fulfil their wedding day dreams in hospital."