St Helena Hospice

An easy to talk to lady/nurse. Made you feel at ease.

Lynde listened intently. She's very good, I like her.

We went at my pace and was not pushed, had to wait a long time to be seen at start.

What was good. Particularly excellent were Janet, Anne and Angie, the Assistant Nurses, who came in twice daily to check Sandy and make sure she was comfortable.Their approach, caring attitude, professionalism and knowledge was truly exceptional. They managed to make real contact with Sandy which definitely made her final days happier. They cared for her with compassion and dignity. District Nurse Jenny was also very good. She turned up in good time to recharge the syringe driver and was very careful to check and double check all the medication which she loaded into the syringe and that the remaining stock was adequate for the foreseeable future. She dealt knowledgably with all the questions that we raised. Without exception, everyone that we talked to was very supportive and understanding. The concept of a triage call centre (with knowledgable call handlers) that routes the concerned carer to the correct service with minimum delay is, in the context of my wife's palliative care, very attractive. The idea of coordinating the many independent groups through a central point is logical and involves many difficult challenges. I think that, considering the youth of this particular project, it is on the right road and offers significant benefits going forward. What could be improved. Avoiding worry and stress to patients and relatives, for example, automatically feed back to the patient/relative who has called for help as to when the District Nurse is likely to arrive AND to offer medical reassurance that the time scale is Ok from the patient's comfort point of view. i.e. Medical reassurance as well as practical solutions. Improve two way communication between Single Point and Ace call centres Allocate a named contact at Single Point ( a Nurse) who has overall resposibility for the palliative care of the Patient. This person to contact the patient/carer regularly to pick up and deal with any ongoing concerns. Communication between GP’s surgery and chemist is poor. I suggest that prescriptions could be issued from Single Point directly to a local chemist for the patient's carer, or District Nurse to collect. If the patient is under Palliative Care then the GP could easily be advised rather than need to have them sign it off.