1 minute read
Meet The Hospital Team
Tell us about the hospital team
In the Specialist palliative Care team there are three nurses - Emma, Sandy and Lynn. We review and assess and support patients with a life-limiting illnesses. This involves managing patients throughout the trust with complex symptoms and psychological needs. We support patients and their families with advance care planning discussions and also provide expert advice for health care professionals . Vanessa is our End-of-Life Care Specialist Nurse; she provides support to patients’ families and ward staff to promote comfort and dignity in their final days of life. New in post and working alone side Vanessa is Amy, who is in the developmental role for End-of-Life/ Palliative Care and Liz who is our new Endof-Life Practice Educator. Her role is to promote and standardise excellent End-ofLife Care for all patients where ever they are throughout the Trust.
Advertisement
Meet The Hospital Team
In what ways does your work tie-in with Forest Holme Hospice?
We try to ensure patients in the main Trust can access the same level of palliative care as they would receive in the hospice setting.
We work collaboratively with the medical and community team at Forest Holme for patient continuity of care.
How difficult was it working during the height of the Covid pandemic?
We changed our way of working during this period, with specialist hospital, community and end-of-life care life nurses coming together to focus resources where it was needed most. We found this time challenging, but felt we provided good end of life care to those patients who needed it the most.
Are you expecting to be under considerable winter pressure this year and what measures will be put in place to help cope with the predicted rise in admissions?
As expected the hospitals are full and this is expected to continue, we are already receiving higher number of referrals and expect this to rise further during the winter months.
As a result of the change in the way we worked during the pandemic, all specialist palliative care services are working more closely together to best utilise resources.
Forest Holme Hospice Charity funds the Developmental Role for End-of-Life/Palliative Care and also contributes two days worth of nursing to the hospital’s palliative care Community Nurse Specialist Team.
