The UK’s first Hospice in the Hospital at Grantham
INITIATIVES pioneered by Lincolnshire St Barnabas Hospice have helped propel the UK to the top of world rankings for end-of-life care.
In welcoming yesterday’s report as a major endorsement of the quality of services available, the charity pledged to continue its work to ensure the county stayed at the forefront of innovation.
“Thanks to the skills of our staff and the unstinting support we receive from the community, there is no shortage of ways in which St Barnabas has broken new ground in the provision of specialist services. These allow people with life-limiting illnesses to choose the death they would like,” said interim Chief Executive Karen Rossdale.
“Lincolnshire’s reputation has attracted interest from across the UK, as well as further afield, and has put St Barnabas very much on the map as a centre of excellence in taking the quality of end-of-life care to new heights.”
The latest initiative that breaks new ground focuses on the appointment – in partnership with United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust – of a palliative and end-of-life care Chaplain providing spiritual care and support to patients and their families.
The partnership is also supporting the delivery of training to staff across all wards and sites to support best practice in palliative and end-of-life care with the new appointment of a dedicated end-of-life-facilitator to ensure patients’ needs are met.
This is achieved through conversations with patients about where they want to be cared for, as well as identifying new activities within day therapy that patients and their carers would like to benefit from.
These initiatives are all part of a wider programme of improvements designed to offer a more personalised range of services, closer to the person’s home.
It builds on a raft of other developments, including last year’s launch of the UK’s first “Hospice in the Hospital” at Grantham, and the recent expansion of day therapy services that the charity provides to the East Lindsey community from its locality base at Louth and District Hospice.
Karen added: “We should all take pride in today’s findings and the innovative ways in which St Barnabas, as the principal provider of specialist end-of-life care throughout Lincolnshire, is contributing to this success.
“We have an ambitious development programme in place to build on our track record as one of the UK’s longest-established and most successful hospice charities.
“And we look forward to the people of Lincolnshire continuing to be among the first in the UK – as well as in the world- to benefit from our approach.
“We are very grateful to the community we serve for their amazing support for over 30 years and the platform this has built to enable us to extend the boundaries of quality.”