Chair's Report October 2009
Background
During the last 15 years Tynedale Hospice at Home has delivered a range of support services to patients during their illness and in the last weeks of life. This care has been delivered by suitably qualified staff and volunteers whose generosity of time, kindness and effort has made a huge difference to the patients and their families.
This pattern of care will continue into the future –
Volunteers will continue to provide the support that they do today as drivers, gardeners, friends, shoppers, etc
Medical needs will be provided by appropriately qualified medical staff
The Palliative Care Partnership
The overall objective is to ensure that each patient receives due assessment and is afforded the choice of an appropriate package of palliative care that meets as closely as possible their every need drawing on all the resources available.
The palliative care package will include many elements, some of which will be delivered, as now, by registered nurses and hospice support workers but under the new arrangements, there will be a greater need for registered nurses to provide the levels of medical care in the home.
Tynedale Hospice at Home has been asked to increase its contribution to this provision in recognition of the valuable work it has been doing and continues to do. We are seeking to adjust our methods of working to respond to this request including reviewing our staffing needs to ensure that we can respond effectively to the increased demand for our services.
Staffing
We have a new Voluntary Services Coordinator : Cathy who plays a key role in recruiting and supporting the growing band of volunteers without whom the hospice could not function
We have increased our administrative support team by the appointment of Emma to help us to manage the delivery of care by ensuring that we work as efficiently as possible, making best use of our resources.
Janet Jackson is leading the development of a Bereavement Support service to provide more holistic support to families
We are enhancing our bank of Nurses to make sure we have enough qualified staff to meet the demand and are offering them contracted hours to enhance their employment status
An essential appointment is that of a Clinical Nurse Lead with appropriate palliative care qualifications and experience. This appointment will be made in the near future following extensive discussions within the Board of the Hospice and with our partners in the Palliative Care Partnership.
The role of the Clinical Nurse Lead would be to work in conjunction with the Community Nurses in defining the elements of the Palliative Care Package and with Christine our Hospice Manager, in ensuring that the appropriate staff are made available to meet the identified needs.
He/she will also supervise the Hospice Nursing staff through routine supervisory sessions; and play a crucial role in raising standards with additional training.
We thus see this appointment as the means by which we will enable experience to be captured and used to enhance the service
Resources
You will have realised already that Tynedale Hospice at Home is committed to meeting the challenge offered us by our participation in the Palliative Care Partnership and are viewing this as a logical development of the work that has been achieved over the past fifteen years.
Inevitably, to meet this challenge effectively we are going to need to raise our profile in the community and increase our voluntary income to complement the grants received from the Primary Care Trust
One of our trustees, Fenwick and his fundraising group are doing a great job and deserve our thanks and our continuing support
We propose to increase the scale and scope of our shop in Battle Hill to take advantage of the reputation that it has gained as the best Charity Shop in Hexham and Tynedale and the place to go for good quality, fairly priced goods
We will also develop our first floor shop into a dedicated book shop
In conjunction with this development, we are taking a lease on additional office space to support the delivery of our care services
Conclusion
I’m sure you are as excited as I am about the new opportunities afforded Tynedale Hospice at Home to serve the community through its new role within the Palliative Care Partnership. I want to assure you that the Board of Trustees, in sharing this excitement is also very aware of its responsibilities. We have to do everything in our power to secure all the resources needed to provide the best quality service to our patients. With your help and continued support, we will.
Christopher Elliot-Newman
Chair of Trustees at Tynedale Hospice at Home