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Marie Curie supportive care at home service
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About the service
The Marie Curie supportive care at home service provides practical, emotional and physical support to patients and their carers when suffering from a life-limiting illness. Patients may be in hospital/hospice and express a wish to go home or when at home may require additional care and support. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and aims to provide individualised packages of care offering the choice for patients to be cared for at home where possible. This may include additional care and support when the patient is approaching the last days of life. Examples include:
- Provision of a staff member who can stay with the patient overnight to allow the family/carer to get some rest.
- Provision of a qualified nurse to stay with the patient to provide pain/symptom management.
Documents and leaflets
Why would someone choose the service?
- When a person is approaching the last days of their life, the supportive care at home service aims to support them and their family in their preferred place of care, enabling the person to die at home in their own familiar surroundings
- To provide a supportive presence at home, with care provided by appropriately trained staff
- To provide care which enables the family to go out or have some much-needed rest at night
- To provide a quick response when a person is in the last few days of their life, offering care that is tailor-made to the person’s needs
- The supportive care at home service was the winner of the Trust’s Excellence in Clinical Care Award in 2012
- Positive feedback from carers and families: “Thank you so much for all your help and support, without this my mum wouldn’t have been able to achieve her wish of dying at home, you provided care at such a challenging time”
Staff you may meet
- There are many people who work behind the scenes to keep services running and you may meet them in hospital or community settings. They include porters, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, decorators receptionists and secretaries who all work to make sure healthcare settings are kept clean, tidy and safe.
- Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
- Nursing or healthcare assistants work in hospital or community settings under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. They help doctors, nurses and therapists give people the care and treatment they need.
Why a professional should choose the service
- The service provides both qualified and unqualified staff that have received training in caring for individuals with life-limiting illnesses who require additional support when approaching their end of life.
- Due to the nature of our service, care is provided in consultation with the patient if they are able, and also their family.
- The service demonstrates an excellent level of responsiveness which often includes care packages initiated on the same day of referral. 2013/14 audit findings are demonstrated below:-
- Audit findings 2013/14
- 100% of responses in 2 hours
- 78% of cases where care commended the same day
- 95% died at home in their preferred place
- The service is provided 7 days a week 24 hours a day, this includes weekends and bank holidays.
- The service works closely with colleagues in health and social care both in hospital and community settings.
- The supportive care at home service was the winner of the Trust’s Excellence in Clinical Care Award in 2012.
Support offered
- Following referral the service coordinator contacts patient/family to arrange a visit to discuss care needs.
- An individualised plan of care is developed
- The service carries out continual liaison with patient, carer, family and health and social care colleagues to ensure care is regularly reviewed and assessed.
Examples of care provided include:
- Overnight stays
- Daytime care
- Personal care visits to help with hygiene needs when the person is in the last few days of their life
Outcomes
- To provide high quality individualised care
- To support the person to die at home if that is their preferred place of care
- Support the person and their family by providing a supportive presence at home when the end of life is near
- Provide a qualified nurse to assess/provide pain or symptom management
Referrals accepted from:
AHPs, Consultants, GPs, Hospital staff, Local authority staff, Other NHS services, Other Trust services
Referral criteria:
- The service is available to patients registered with a Barnsley GP. It is for people who have a life-limiting illness and are already receiving care and support from other services, for example, district nursing service. You can find out more about the district nursing service by searching for them in the service directory
- People who are approaching or are in the last days of their life and require support to die in their preferred place of care.