The Sue Ryder South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub launched on 9th April 2018 and the Sue Ryder Nurses have provided palliative care for 310 local patients in their homes.
In addition to providing patients with the option to receive end-of-life care at home, the launch of the hub also saw the introduction of a telephone helpline run by Sue Ryder Nurses and consultants, providing patients, their families, carers and healthcare professionals advice, support and co-ordination of their care.
The charity’s pilot scheme, has received a huge amount of support and positive reviews from patients, families, GPs and healthcare professionals.
Maria Turnbull, Director of Sue Ryder South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub, said:
“Since launching the Sue Ryder South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub in 2018, our medical and nursing team has been able to significantly increase the amount of care we provide.
“The way people want to receive end of life care is changing. Sue Ryder’s research showed that 80% of people felt that patients should be given a choice as to where they receive end of life care[1] . The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that around two in three people would prefer to die at home.[2]
“We felt that it was important to be able to provide our local community with a choice between dying in a hospital, a hospice setting or in their own home. We are incredibly proud of the positive impact offering that choice has had so far.
“I want to say thank you to each and every one of our supporters in South Oxfordshire. We rely on your generous donations and without you our Sue Ryder Nurses could not have been there when it mattered for our patients and their families.”
Sylvia, who lived in Benson, was one of the first patients of the Sue Ryder Palliative Care Hub’s Hospice at Home team. Her daughter-in-law praises the service for enabling Sylvia to stay at home, which was what she wanted:
“Sylvia wanted to die at home, she was very clear with us on that. We could not have granted her that wish without Sue Ryder.
“Sylvia was cared for at home for around five weeks. You could ring at any time; the Sue Ryder Nurses didn’t mind at all. They were always there for us and nothing was too much trouble.
“Sylvia had a peaceful death. She died in her own room, in the village where she was born, with her family around her. It made us feel good that we’d done exactly what she wanted; you can’t do any more than that.”
Patricia Allen from Binfield Heath, whose husband John was cared for at home by the South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub’s Hospice at Home team, also highly advocates the care and support that both her husband and she received:
“John said he would like to be cared for at home and to die at home. He wanted to be in his own place and I and all the family supported him in this.
“I suppose that most people would rather die at home and it hasn’t been possible in the past. With Sue Ryder’s Hospice at Home service it gives people that choice. To everybody that I’ve spoken to since John’s death I’ve praised the Sue Ryder Nurses with every positive adjective you could possibly use.”
Lynne Claydon, whose husband John was cared for at home in Great Milton thanks to Sue Ryder said of the service:
“John’s preferred place of death was home. He was in a bad way after an operation at the hospital, but we managed to ensure he was discharged. I can’t thank the Sue Ryder Nurses enough for enabling him to be cared for and die at home. It gives me such peace to know we did exactly what he wanted.”
Penny Jarvis, a Sue Ryder Nursing Assistant from Crowmarsh Gifford, spoke about what it is like to work for the Hospice at Home team:
"It is an honour and a privilege to empower people to be in their own environment and support them and their families on that journey providing advice, care and support when they need it most."
Tracey Bleakley, Chief Executive of Hospice UK said:
“Hospices offer personalised, compassionate care that is tailored to people’s choices and preferences and is that care is available beyond in-patient units.
“Hospice at home services can help ensure that more people with life-limiting conditions, as well as those approaching the end of life, are supported in the place where they prefer to be.
“Hospice at home is one of the fastest growing areas of hospice care and more hospices may well adopt this model as the main way of delivering their services in the future.”
The South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub has so far created 17 new jobs in the area, with plans to further grow the service by recruiting additional nurses and nursing assistants so as to provide more care for more local people.
All care provided by Sue Ryder is free of charge to its patients and their loved ones. The charity needs the support of the community to raise the £2.9 million required to continue providing palliative care in the South Oxfordshire this year. Sue Ryder will continue to fundraise in and around South Oxfordshire through events and collecting donations. Individuals and groups can also fundraise on the charity’s behalf with support from the fundraising team. Every moment matters so every penny counts.
For more information on the Sue Ryder South Oxfordshire Palliative Care Hub visit: www.sueryder.org/how-we-can-help/south-oxfordshire-palliative-care-hub
