Pioneering plan to base hospice nurse in hospital A&E
acole@thekmgroup.co.uk Hospice and hospital bosses have got together for a ground-breaking project to bring a specialist nurse into A&E who will deal exclusively with terminally-ill patients.
For the first time, a palliative care nurse is set to be stationed in Maidstone Hospital’s A&E department, but be employed by the Heart of Kent Hospice in Aylesford.
The aim is to bring patients under the hospice’s care sooner as they would otherwise be admitted to different wards before being referred.
The hospice is currently recruiting for the position.
Medical consultant Dr Chris Farnham, a specialist in palliative medicine, who is based at the hospital for three and a half days a week, said: “Unless we have those conversations and have those plans in place we are never going to achieve it.
“The number of people who miss that opportunity is a shame. We don’t get a chance to have another go for them.”
He added: “Although it is hard talking about death and dying sometimes we don’t really have that option.”
Dr Farnham said palliative care meant much more than one to one care, and the service treated everything including considering how the patient’s family was feeling.
He added that whoever took on the role would need to be prepared to challenge the view that all patients had to be treated, rather than opting for palliative care, which focuses more on the relief of symptoms, pain, physical and mental stress surrounding a serious or terminal illness.
New chief executive Sarah Pugh added: “We want to be reaching out to the people in the community because some still see hospice as a very scary word.
“We can help them live their life to the full and make the most of their time.
“We are trying to create a car- ing and nurturing home from home.
“People want to know that their loved one will be cared for in the very best way possible.”
She added: “The majority of our work is in the community. I want that to be the case even more.”
The hospice, which has 160 staff and 600 full and part time volunteers, costs £4m a year to run, of which the majority comes from fundraising.