A cancer patient who also contracted Covid says free wifi at Salisbury District Hospital has been "a lifeline" for him.

Paul Smith, from Hanging Langford, recently spent time in hospital with Covid and is now receiving cancer treatment on the Pembroke Unit.

Paul says access to free wifi during his stay, funded by the Stars Appeal, has helped him "take my mind off everything".

"The Stars Appeal wifi has been a lifeline," he said.

"When I was in hospital with Covid using it to make video calls was the only way I could see my wife and my sons. And during my chemotherapy it enables me to watch Netflix and also to access my work emails, so I can work from here if I need to.

"It allows me to take my mind off everything that’s going on with my treatment."

Wifi at Salisbury District Hospital is now ten times faster thanks to funding from the charity.

The Stars Appeal has been funding free wifi since 2015, but has recently upgraded the service to make it quicker and easier to access.

As well as making the connection speed faster, users no longer have to register or enter their details to use the service.

Instead they can select ‘_StarsAppealFreeWiFi’ from the list of available networks, wait for the blue Stars Appeal welcome screen to appear, and then click connect.

Every week over 3,000 people benefit from the wifi, including patients and their families, visitors and hospital staff.

Tara Rainaldi, Senior Sister on the Hospital’s Pembroke Cancer Unit and Stars Appeal Ambassador, said: “We’re massively proud of our free Stars Appeal Wi-Fi which is vital in enabling patients to stay in contact with their loved ones, watch television free-of-charge and keep in touch with life outside the hospital.

“This has been even more important over the last two years when Stars Appeal Wi-Fi has enabled so many video calls between patients and their families especially when they haven’t been able to have visitors.”

Free wifi is just one service provided by the charity, which is aiming to raise £1 million this year.

You can find out how to support it, here.

Read more: Stars Appeal Walk for Wards returns for 2022

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