A HOSPICE at home nurse has really let things go to her head - braving the shave to raise funds for a Newport hospice.

Louise Taylor, from Tredegar, affectionately known as 'Nurse Tidy' by her patients, wanted to do something to help St David's Hospice Care during this difficult time - so went for the chop.

The mum of three, married to nurse Shaun, said: "I've done all sorts of fund raising for the hospice over the years and wanted to do something a bit special this time to raise money.

"My colleagues and patients think I'm mad, so why not."

Mrs Taylor, a nurse for 35 years, has a personal caseload of patients who she cares for throughout the community.

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She said: "It's particularly hard at the moment for patients with nurses like me having to turn up to their homes covered head to foot in PPE.

"What I do is a real privilege. I meet wonderful people and I care for them in their own home. I love what I do and I wouldn't change it for anything.

"Times are very different now. My car is my second home, quite rightly we stay out of our office. It is intimidating going into homes, masked and gowned up, making communication difficult."

Mrs Taylor has worked as a nurse with St David's Hospice Care for six years and is aware of the difficulties currently being faced by the hospice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said: "Due to all of our shops having to close and our fundraising events being cancelled we now have a major cash problem.

" I thought, I know, I'll do something different which doesn't involve anyone else and the idea of a head shave came."

St David's Hospice Care Chief Executive Emma Saysell said: " Louise is a wonderful nurse, her care for her patients, enthusiasm and love of life, is completely infectious.

"When I heard one of our hospice at home nurses was planning to have her head shaved to raise funds to help the hospice I knew straight away who it would be."

The Newport-based hospice, which has to fund 70 per cent of its clinical services through its events, now cancelled, and its shops, all closed, is bracing itself for a massive spike in Covid-19 pandemic referrals.

To donate to Louise Taylor's appeal visit facebook.com/donate/155857299104996/155857315771661