HEALTHCARE in the Okehampton area is to get a welcome boost, following the extension of a valued community nursing service.
From today (Thursday), people with life-threatening illnesses in the town and surrounding area will have access to a Hospiscare nurse every day of the week, if they need it.
Gay Hill, of Chagford, a Hospiscare nurse and wife of West Devon mayor Peter Hill, visits patients in their own homes to provide specialist advice on pain and symptom control and support to the patients and their families.
Gay said: ?Extending our nurse visiting service from five days a week to seven means we can provide continuous care and support whenever it is needed.?
Jane Richardson, Hospiscare?s community nursing manager, said: ?We also want to provide an equality of service across the whole area.
?At the moment, people who live in areas such as Tiverton and Okehampton are not getting the same service.?
The service extension has been made possible by a grant from the Government, part of £50-million set aside for specialist palliative care services.
Plans are also being developed to extend the 24-hour support and advice line to Hospiscare patients later this year.
The service covers an area which ranges from Okehampton in the west to Axminster and Seaton in the east and costs £2.6-million a year to provide, 75% of which is raised through community fundraising.