 |
||||||||||||||||
| Home Services Day Unit BARDS Drop-in Carers Project Contact | ||||||||||||||||
The St. Mary's Hospice Carers Project
|
||||||||||||||||
| Lesser Kings Hall, Barrow-in-Furness |
Family carers are essential if people are to be successfully looked after at home in their final months or weeks of life, but their vital contribution has tended to go unrecognised in the past. There has been more publicity concerning the tasks of caring recently with government acknowledgement of carers’ responsibilities and needs. There are undoubtedly some situations that cannot be managed in the patient’s home, and not all situations can be predicted even in the terminal stage, but carer exhaustion and inadequate support for the carers are common reasons for patients being admitted to hospital or hospice at the end of life.
Although we know that around 50% of patients with cancer state that they wish to be looked after and to die at home, less than 25% actually achieve their wish. Sadly, too many people are inappropriately admitted to hospital at the end of their lives and then die away from home. The Department of Health is committed to giving patients choice about their preferred place of care but this will only happen in terminal illness if the family members who are responsible for a great deal of that care feel able and supported to provide it.
The carers’ services will aim to enable people to be more informed and confident about providing care in their own homes and will be backed up when necessary by our Hospice Outreach specialist palliative care nursing team who provide care in homes in collaboration with District nursing teams and Macmillan nurses. The carers’ services will also help carers to look after their own health which is essential if they are going to manage the physical and emotional demands of caring.
Experience from public consultation carried out in Barrow by the hospice with regard to the asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma, identified carers’ needs as being around information, practical support and emotional support.
In common with our hospice services generally, these proposed services will support carers regardless of the illness that their loved one is suffering from, ie they are not restricted to cancer.
The proposed extended range of services for carers:
• A new information desk based at Lesser Kings Hall – this will assist people to find out about various illnesses, different types of support available, self-help groups and will also ‘signpost’ people to other agencies when appropriate. Carers need to understand the illness and its effects on the body, what is happening when new symptoms develop or complicated treatments are in progress, in order to be able to plan and also to know when to ask for assistance in a changing situation.
 |
• Drop-in support groups with tea and cake and a nurse or therapist to talk to. Sometimes it is important to just be able to unwind or unload problems onto someone who understands your situation – all our staff are familiar with the many extra roles and responsibilities that the carer role includes – many of them unfamiliar and worrying to the carer. |
• A new rolling ‘Carers Course’ – including basic caring skills, managing medicines, relaxation techniques, benefits and thinking ahead. We have carried out a small survey amongst current carers and have identified the areas in which family members would like some training. We may need to be flexible about when and where the course is held as some carers have great difficulty in leaving their home when someone is very ill unless there is someone else available to take over for a short time.
 |
• Group relaxation sessions led by our complementary therapy team. We already provide this for our Day Care patients and in the existing Drop-ins – we intend to extend this facility to carers. It is certainly relaxing – visiting medical students have been known to have a quick snooze! Lack of sleep is a common problem for carers who feel as if they are on ‘red alert’ all the time and looking after someone with terminal illness at home can be an ‘emotional roller coaster’. |
• A social day care for respite for patients that will give their carers some ‘time out’. Many family carers find that the responsibilities usually tend to fall mainly on one person, the husband, wife or adult son or daughter. As a result it can be difficult for the carer to get out of the house because there is no one else to take over. Knowing that the patient can be left in the safe care of hospice staff for a few hours allows the carer to get their hair done or visit a friend or just put their feet up without worrying.
• Bereavement support – groups and one-to-one sessions. We already have a well-established volunteer team of trained bereavement visitors who visit bereaved people in their homes. We intend to offer bereavement support groups as well in future. We may need to be flexible around the time and place of these groups to cater for people who may go out to work or live distant from Barrow. In other areas, bereavement support groups have proved very helpful.
 |
Medical DirectorDr Helen Clayson We have just appointed a project co-ordinator and from August who will work with a small group of established hospice staff to develop these services: the hospice sister, medical director, general manager, senior complementary therapist, hospice secretary and our quality manager. A team of additional hospice volunteers will be recruited and trained to assist with providing these services, for example, by manning the information desk, assisting with reception duties, providing light refreshments, general administration and assisting with the group activities. We are sure that these extended services will help families cope more easily with the responsibilities of caring at a very difficult time. |
Information and support from Help The Hospices for people who look after someone who has been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. If you would like to read more, please download the PDF version below.
 |
|
The proposed extended range of services for carers:
|
© St Mary's Hospice Tel : Ulverston Office : 01229 580305 // Barrow Office : 01229 430111 email :info@stmaryshospice.org.uk ipr + design copyright : squarefruit [ citrus-lime limited ] |