Hospice and ECCH launch Community Care Unit service in Great Yarmouth and Waveney

St Elizabeth Hospice and East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) have extended their support to the local community with the launch of the Community Care Unit service in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

Replacing the hospice’s former Day Care services, the Community Care Unit will continue to care for patients living with progressive or life-limiting illnesses and complex needs by providing support such as symptom control, advance ease of access to healthcare professionals and social integration.

The service offers the opportunity for patients’ wellbeing and social needs to be met, while also enabling the convenience of all necessary healthcare appointments to be organised and completed in one location, on the same day. The service will see two Community Care Unit locations being situated throughout the geographical patch, at Martham Medical Centre on a Thursday, and Sole Bay Health Centre on a Friday.

Hanna McDowell, Head of Therapy and Community Care Units at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “We are delighted to launch our new Community Care Unit Service and to continue developing our services to meet the ever-evolving needs of patients and their families throughout Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

“Providing a personal and tailored service to patients is at the heart of the hospice’s work. Through the new Community Care Unit we will deliver holistic care to each individual and their family to ensure we are able to support more people who need our vital care throughout the region.”

The Community Care Unit will allow patients and their families to receive specific care and support from the hospice’s multi-disciplinary team in a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere, while also providing a range of nursing and medical care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, support groups and rehabilitation programmes for patients.

The Community Care Unit is the latest addition to the free specialist palliative care services provided in Great Yarmouth and Waveney by St Elizabeth Hospice’s partnership with East Coast Community Healthcare.

Operating from Beccles Hospital, in the community and through the service’s 24-hour advice line, OneCall, the partnership has supported more than 2,000 patients and their families, who are typically living with conditions such as cancer, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and neurological disorder, since its launch in April 2019.

ECCH’s Executive Director of Operations, Adele Madin, said: “We’re delighted that after the months of lockdowns over the past year, we’re finally able to get the Community Care Unit service up and running. The initiative will provide patients and their families with a more convenient and accessible way to receive this vital person-centred care from our teams of healthcare professionals.”

Each patient will be assessed before they first attend the Community Care Unit service to identify the patient’s needs and to determine what support is required before a tailored plan of care is created to meet these needs.

To register for the Community Care Unit service, call St Elizabeth Hospice’s 24-hour specialist palliative care advice line, OneCall, on 0800 5567 0111 to discuss with a member of the team or complete a self-referral form online by visiting www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/how-we-can-help/hospice-care/community-care-unit/.

For more information about the partnership’s services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney visit www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/how-we-can-help/hospice-care/great-yarmouth_and-waveney.