4 Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice
Helping people at home… whatever ‘home’ means to them
Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Lisa Morris, has worked within community district nursing for a quarter century, including 11 years for Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice. A mum-of-four, 49-year-old Lisa says she is passionate about end-of-life care, and being able to give people the kind of peaceful death they wish for, at home – whatever ‘home’ looks like to them.
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or Lisa job satisfaction means being able to support patients to achieve a ‘comfortable’ death in the place where they want to be. And at the same time knowing the peace of mind that this offers their families. But it can also mean helping people to make precious memories. This was certainly the case with a gentleman that Lisa helped to care for recently, before he sadly died of cancer and dementia. “Ken loved Spain, he and his wife, Christine, had a villa there,” Lisa explains. “They wanted to make one last trip and I
managed to do a COVID swab so he could take this final journey. No one else would come out to do the swab, so even though it wasn’t strictly our job the hospice team did it because it was so important that he get to Spain.” “His wife then sent me a lovely photo of him sitting in the sunshine with a hat on, a pint of zero alcohol beer and his pipe, with no tobacco in. He was just looking out to sea. His wife was so thankful that they were able to make some last memories, before it was too late. She wrote a card after her husband had died thanking the hospice nurses for ‘going above and beyond.’ That’s what this
