Patients across Waveney and Great Yarmouth are to receive better access to specialist inpatient palliative care following the opening of the area’s first ever hospice beds on April 1st.
St Elizabeth Hospice is providng three hospice beds in conjunction with All Hallows Hospital, Ditchingham, for patients living life with a progressive illness, such as heart failure, kidney disease and cancer.
In addition, St Elizabeth Hospice has opened four other services:
- Day services at All Hallows Hospital, Ditchingham – on Mondays.
- Day services at Crossroads Care – Waveney in Lowestoft – on Tuesdays.
- An outpatient
sclinic at Cutlers Hill surgery in Bungay Road, Halesworth – once a week on Fridays. - and Day services in Great Yarmouth opened on September 2012 on Mondays.
St Elizabeth Hospice already provides day services at Beccles Hospital on a Thursday.
St Elizabeth Hospice is receiving funding from NHS Norfolk and Waveney and HealthEast CIC, the new clinical commissioning group for Great Yarmouth and Waveney, towards two of the beds.
This means NHS Norfolk and Waveney and HealthEast CIC have commissioned two of the inpatient beds from St Elizabeth Hospice at All Hallows Hospital and they will be funded for an initial period of two years.
The investment comes as part of the Marie Curie Delivering Choice programme, which aims to improve the care provided to those nearing the end of their lives while also giving them a choice about where they die.
In addition to the two commissioned beds, St Elizabeth Hospice is directly providing a third bed in conjunction with All Hallows Hospital. St Elizabeth Hospice is investing £2.2m over three years to provide local hospice facilities in the communities where they are most needed and will bring employment and volunteering opportunities to the area.
The hospice’s new services are provided free of charge and are part of the charity’s strategy to meet the need for specialist palliative care in Great Yarmouth and Waveney and enable patients to access services closer to home.
St Elizabeth Hospice’s chief executive Jane Petit said: “We are delighted to announce the introduction of St Elizabeth Hospice services at these new locations. Our work is centred around an individual’s needs and our aim is to provide specialist support wherever it is required. There is a great need for hospice services in this area and patients and their families will be able to start benefiting immediately.”
All Hallows Healthcare Trust’s chief executive Clair Westwood-Deamer said: “We are delighted to be working with St Elizabeth Hospice for the benefit of our patients, continuing to provide seamless healthcare services to our local population. Working with St Elizabeth Hospice will enable us to provide specialist palliative care services in partnership with this charity.”
All Hallows Hospital is a 30-bed Hospital, part of the range of services run by the All Hallows Healthcare Trust which provides high quality and compassionate healthcare and has been working closely with St Elizabeth Hospice to enable provision of the new specialist palliative daycare and inpatient services at the Hospital site.
All Hallows Healthcare Trust’s Chairman John Randle said: “The Trustees are very pleased to be able to extend the range of All Hallows services in conjunction with St Elizabeth Hospice and thus build upon our other work with the NHS towards a comprehensive role in palliative care in the area”.
Crossroads Care – Waveney carers’ development manager Julie Ing said: “We are delighted to be working with St Elizabeth Hospice to increase the provision of specialist palliative care day services in our area.”
For more information about services provided by St Elizabeth Hospice, to refer a patient or to find out about fundraising events or volunteering opportunities in your area please call 01493 690990.