“The patient comes first before anything else,” shares Caroline, our Associate Director of IPU and Care at Home, as she reflects on her new role and our hospice care.
Part of my new role, overseeing both our Inpatient Unit and Community Team, means ensuring these teams can work closely together. This close working is why our care means real choice for patients and their families.
Our Community Team has evolved in the last two or three years to deliver a much wider range of care, as a multidisciplinary team. Alongside nurses are doctors and specialist practitioners. It means more patients are choosing with confidence to receive complex hospice care at home. I know that is a safe choice for people to make and so do our patients.
37% of our hospice ‘bed days’ are now delivered in patients’ own homes through our Virtual Ward (when the hospice team comes to you).
I also know that if things change, our Hospice beds are an option for patients too and our IPU team deliver outstanding care. Before leading our Community Team I spent 8 years on our Inpatient Unit. I know how vital both these services are.
Key to our hospice care is the trust built by our multi-disciplinary team. We can adjust care to match needs and wishes. We can support admission to an IPU bed when this is the best option. We can also admit patients to IPU directly from hospital.
With such experienced and skilled colleagues in my teams we are supporting people who need the highest levels of care in both their own home and in our IPU.
Twenty years ago, Hospice caseloads consisted primarily of cancer patients. At The Hospice of St Francis we care and support for patients with non-cancer diagnoses, including respiratory and neurological conditions, dementia, and heart failure, where palliative care is needed. We are caring for people at home with all these increasingly complex care needs, and we are right there for the whole family.
Many people come through the doors of our Inpatient Unit, experience support at home, or both. Everyone is receiving symptom relief in a kind and dignified way, when this is truly invaluable. I’m immensely proud of my teams. The care they deliver is outstanding.
As a supporter of the Hospice, I hope you can be proud of that too.
Thank you for what you do.
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