Melissa Hillier, Director of Somerset charity We Hear You (WHY) has written the following statement about changes to WHY's service during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak:

"At WHY we support people of all ages impacted by cancer. Many of those we support have compromised immune systems or are supporting those who do.

"We have been monitoring the coronavirus situation carefully over recent weeks and particularly the last 24 hours.

"With this in mind, we feel that we must prioritise the health and wellbeing of our clients and our staff. In line with current guidance and the actions of our colleagues in other health charities and the NHS we will be suspending all face-to-face counselling activities from today.

"We have not taken this decision lightly as we know how important our work is to those we support and we do not intend to leave people without any input from WHY.

"From today (March 17) we will be offering all our one-to-one counselling services for those aged 12 years and older via phone or online.

"All our counsellors have experience of working this way and we hope that the disruption to our service will be as minimal as possible.

"At the present time, our services for those under 12 will pause, although we will be supporting the parents of younger children online or by phone. We will reinstate our children's service as soon as it is safe to do so.

"WHY will also be closing its offices to staff and the public from today. All staff will continue to work from home. We are well prepared for this with laptops and access to all our files and data online.

"WHYs main office phone will be diverted during office hours, so that one of our team will be able to help.

"We will continue to take referrals for our service and continue to support people through these extremely challenging times.

"All current clients and those waiting for appointments will be contacted today and we will post any further updates on the delivery of our service on our website and through our social media channels.

"All of us at We Hear You send their thoughts and best wishes to everyone at this challenging time."