Dr Kershaw’s Hospice Announced as Finalist in National 2021 Nursing Times Awards
23 Jul 2021
Hospice at Home Team recognised for their incredible work across the community of Oldham.
Dr Kershaw’s Hospice, based on Turf Lane, Royton has been shortlisted as a finalist in The Nursing Times Awards 2021, in recognition of the support that our Hospice at Home Team, who work across the community provide to the main carers and loved ones of our patients.
The prestigious Nursing Times Awards bring together the nursing community to shine a light on the brightest talent in the profession and recognise innovation, patient-focused care, inclusivity and perseverance across 25 categories.
Our Hospice at Home Team visit patients in their own homes from 7am-9pm, providing patients and their families with the appropriate level of additional care required to ensure the patient has the support they need to remain in their own home, if this is their preferred place of care, and to prevent any unnecessary admissions to hospital.
Lead Nurse for Community Services at the Hospice, Lindsey Harper explains: “Our focus has always been on the wishes and subsequent individualised care for the patient, however, we wanted to put something in place that would identify any issues or concerns that the patient’s main carer was experiencing and a toolkit/advice or support from other services to help. Providing additional support to the main carers of people approaching the end of their life has increased the number of families able to fully support their loved ones wishes of dying at home. Prior to this intervention it was common for main carers to become overwhelmed and request the transfer of their loved one to the Hospice’s In-Patient Unit. This brought with it feelings of guilt and failure for the main carer because they had previously promised their loved one they would remain at home. We are extremely proud that we have been able to support more families across the community and are delighted to have our amazing work recognised, it is a huge honour for our Hospice at Home service to be a shortlisted finalist in this years’ Nursing Times Awards!”
The key aims of the Hospice’s new measures were to identify areas of concern for the main carers of patients who were entering the terminal phase of their illness and who wished to remain at home, and to implement measures to ensure each carer felt supported. Since implementation, there has been a significant reduction in the number of families requesting the transfer of their loved one to the Hospice due to not being able to cope with them being cared for at home. From April 2020 to March 2021, the number of transfers to the In-Patient Unit for patients being cared for at home reduced to 10 from 24 for the same period of the previous year.
One family member of a patient who accessed the Dr Kershaw’s Hospice at Home service since the new measures had been implemented commented: “To describe our experience of Dr Kershaw's as a service does not do justice to the depth of care and dedication shown to all the family as well as my husband at what was a tremendously stressful and distressing time.”
As part of the Dr Kershaw’s Award entry, we had to show our plans for the future to add further improvements to supporting patients to remain at home, and highlight our plans to develop a volunteer companion service to support the patient’s main carer by providing them with the comfort that their loved one will not be left alone when they have to leave the house.
Speaking of being shortlisted for the Award, Dr Kershaw’s CEO, Joanne Sloan commented: “After such a challenging 16 months, we are absolutely thrilled to have been shortlisted for a Nursing Times Award! During the pandemic, our Hospice at Home Team has had even more impact in the community, particularly at times when our In-Patient Unit has been closed. This nomination celebrates and recognises the work of our dedicated nursing team, out in the community who provide care and support to both patients and families when they need it the most.”
Dr Kershaw’s Hospice at Home Team will be attending a judging day in September where they will present their entry to the judges in more detail, with the winners later announced at the official Nursing Times Awards Ceremony on Wednesday 27th October 2021 at Grosvenor House in London. For more information on the Nursing Times Awards visit www.awards.nursingtimes.net
Registered Charity Number: 1105924
Dr Kershaw’s Hospice
Turf Lane, Royton, Oldham OL2 6EU
phone: (0161) 624 2727