Nursing Heroes! We have been very privileged to gain a real insight into the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and social care by talking to some of our incredible healthcare heroes. From a highly experienced nurse with 42 years’ service to a student nurse embarking on a career in healthcare, those at the frontline tell us that the pandemic has changed their everyday lives in many ways and strengthened their determination and resolve to provide the best possible care and support for their patients. To acknowledge and thank everyone working in health and social care, we want to share the thoughts and experiences of our outstanding key workers.
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Ruth Brown Hospice at Home Manager at Blythe House Hospice
“ Liz Docker Nurse at Treetrops Hospice at Home
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Community Spirit Volunteers at Blythe House Hospice in the High Peak, Derbyshire, have provided over 1440 support calls and visits to local people during the coronavirus pandemic. The team of almost 50 volunteers has been on hand to help with tasks including shopping, collecting prescriptions, providing transport to medical appointments, telephone companionship and pet-walking. Julie Forrest has helped to coordinate efforts: “We listen to the needs of those around us and adapt our services to fill those needs in the here and now.” Alongside volunteer efforts, the hospice team has provided hundreds of hours of telephone support. Common queries have included planning for end-of-life care, changes to treatment plans, and combatting isolation and loneliness. Adults and children have also received counselling and bereavement support. A dedicated mental health advice webpage has received more than 700 visitors since it was launched. Hospice at Home, providing 24/7 palliative and end-of-life care in the comfort of patients’ homes, has continued throughout the crisis, with additional PPE being provided to help control the virus. Ruth Brown, Hospice at Home Manager, explained: “Staff have demonstrated great qualities of resilience and compassion despite the threat.” To find out more about current hospice care, please visit: blythehousehospice.org.uk/keeping-you-safeinformation-on-coronavirus. We’re Going to Keep Going Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Treetops Hospice at Home nurses have been on the frontline, continuing to provide vital end-of-life care to terminally ill patients in their own homes. The Hospice at Home Service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Liz Docker, a Treetops nurse, shared an insight into her recent experience: “As a carer looking after somebody who’s very ill, it’s extremely difficult at home. It can be extremely stressful and really tiring. When we arrive, we get to know the patient and the family – and then they can go and get a good night’s sleep and we do everything that’s needed during the night. We’re used to going into these situations where people are very, very ill and where the family is very stressed, but we have got this extra risk going on at the moment. There is a level of anxiety amongst us because this is a situation that we’ve not had to deal with before, but this is not the time to stop giving the care that we give. And that’s just the kind of people we are – we’re going to keep going until it’s physically impossible not to.”
