REGULARS at the Rose and Crown in Rangeworthy helped landlady Yvonne Hulbert buy a vital piece of equipment for South Gloucestershire nurses who care for terminally ill people in their own homes.

A community fun day hosted by Yvonne at the pub raised the £1,400 needed for a syringe driver to be used by the district nursing team based at Yate's health centre.

The device allows medication, which can be a combination of drugs, to be administered slowly over a period of 24 hours, instead of patients receiving multiple injections every day.

Yvonne, 54, has experienced at first hand the difference the device can make to both patients and their loved ones as her husband, Martin, used a syringe driver during the last few months of his life.

Martin, 57, died of bowel cancer just over a year ago. But he was able to stay at home with Yvonne and keep active in the pub they had run together for 20 years, thanks to one of the devices and a single daily visit from the nursing team.

The nurses from Sirona Care and Health could review management of his symptoms during their visits and reload the medication to Martin's requirements.

Yvonne said: "Martin was adamant that we had to do something to say thank you to the nurses who helped him so much.

"We decided we wanted to put the money towards a specific piece of equipment and having a syringe driver gave Martin so much relief towards the end of his life. He was running the pub and able to see people and it made his quality of life so much better.

"After we raised the money we thought about what Martin found most useful and now it's nice to know that it will be helping someone else."

The syringe driver is ready to be given to its first patient by the nurses, who have fitted it with a plaque to remember Martin.

District nursing sister Hazel Roddan said: "We have more and more palliative patients who are living longer and need to be cared for at home rather than staying in hospital."

The pub's next community fund raising day will be on the summer bank holiday on Monday, August 25.