Hospiscare is marking the first anniversary of its rapid response service, which provides at-home palliative care to those with acute symptoms or rapidly deteriorating health.
The Devon-based hospice charity, which services Exeter, East Devon and central Devon, including Okehampton, has supported 555 patients and made over 800 home visits since its inception last October, to provide care and support to terminally ill patients and their families.
Over the last year, the rapid response service has provided specialist support including fitting 138 syringe drivers (battery-operated devices which provide a continuous flow of medicine) and administering “just in case” medicine for sudden and distressing symptoms, allowing patients to die peacefully in their own homes, avoiding hospital admissions and reaching patients in very rural areas of the county.
Specialist palliative care paramedic, Patrick ‘Patch’ Scrivens, said: “As a paramedic in the ambulance service, the focus is on preserving life and getting to hospital. At Hospiscare, the emphasis shifts – our job is to support our patients to achieve a good death at home.
Even though my dad died at Hospiscare many years ago, I didn’t know until I started how different the role would be. It’s not just the job itself, it’s the people. It’s hard to explain. All I can say is that the people who work here are very special and they make a quite extraordinary difference to people’s lives.”
Hospiscare consultant Dr Cate O’Neill, who has also had first-hand experience of the service which looked after her father-in-law, described the positive impact the rapid response team has had on patients and family members.
“Caring for people and their families at the end of life is what I do, but experiencing a loved one dying is something completely different,” she said. “While I was on my own with my father-in-law, he became very distressed and I rang the hospice from his bedside in tears. Jo from our rapid response team came straight to us. I don’t really have any words for how powerful that was. She came and she took all the worry away so I could stop thinking about what I should do for him as a doctor and instead just be his daughter-in-law.
“I can’t describe the speed at which Hospiscare responded when I was in that desperate situation. The relief in knowing there’s a person at the end of the phone, ready to give advice and take action in these urgent situations makes a huge difference.”
The rapid response service was set up last year to replace the Hospiscare at Home, which the charity was forced to retire due to rising costs and insufficient funds.
Hospiscare receives only 24 percent of its funding from the Government and mainly relies upon fundraising in the local community in order to operate its services including the rapid response service.
To donate visit: www.hospiscare.co.uk/donate.
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