How St Catherine’s Hospice supports residents in local nursing home

St Catherine’s doesn’t just provide care at the hospice. Our team of dedicated Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) visit people in the places they call home in the community, working with other health professionals to help people achieve the best possible quality of life. 

Here, deputy manager of Longton Nursing and Residential Home, Jeni Hall, tells how our specialist nurse Emma White gives hope to their residents and families.

“I think there’s a stigma around nursing homes – similar to hospices really – where people think that you only come here to die,” Jeni explains. “People are often very scared when they first come here, but we want to show people that they can still have fun, get out and about and do the things they enjoy.

“St Catherine’s is here for our palliative residents, people who have been diagnosed with a life-shortening illness like cancer or heart failure. Emma helps us to educate families about the hospice’s services and to help people understand that just because someone is deemed to be in the last phase of their life, that doesn’t mean they only have days or weeks left to live.

“It’s about making sure that whatever time they have is spent doing the things that are important to them. For one resident, that meant going to the pub twice a week with his family, and enjoying a brandy before bed each night. It’s about what makes them happy.”

Longton Nursing and Residential Home, which is run by manager Hayley Griffiths, has recently been awarded the nationally-recognised Gold Standards Framework for providing high quality end of life care.

Jeni adds: “We try to make the final days and moments peaceful and as special as possible. Death is always going to be sad, but I really believe that it can be beautiful as well. We set the resident’s room up so that it’s calming and cosy, with nice lighting, smells and sounds.

“We want to give families an understanding about what’s happening and what to expect, giving them an opportunity to say their goodbyes and to be together to share memories in those final days.”

St Catherine’s CNS Emma works across Longton and the surrounding areas, and the staff appreciate that she is their constant point of contact at the hospice.

“Emma comes in like a ray of sunshine,” Jeni says. “All of the residents absolutely love her! She has a great relationship with the staff and residents’ families too. She provides reassurance to everyone because she’s so knowledgeable and approachable. She’s a specialist in her area of work, and that gives everyone a lot of confidence.

“She looks after the medication, pain and symptom management so that our palliative residents are comfortable, and she really takes the time to get to know them and their families; she’s great at boosting their mood.

“One resident came here from hospital and he was feeling really down. He just wanted to sit in front of the TV all day. He has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) so he was referred to St Catherine’s, and Emma visits him regularly and has showed him that being here doesn’t mean it’s the end.

“She gives us that extra support to get people back on their feet and give them hope. We took the gentleman to the seaside which he loved, and he’s feeling a lot brighter and more positive.”

Emma explains: “The staff here do so much incredible work; the end-of-life care they provide is amazing, they really go the extra mile. They know their residents so well which means I can ring up before visiting to get all the background information I need about a patient, enabling me to provide that extra level of support and personalised care as soon as I arrive.

“We also have regular meetings with GPs, Longton Health Centre and district nurses – we all work together and make sure everyone’s talking and kept up-to-date about palliative patients so that care is coordinated and responsive to people’s individual needs.”

She adds: “It’s a privilege to be treated as part of their team, and there’s no better job than palliative care. It’s massively rewarding and it really makes a difference to people at such an important time in their lives. We can’t change people’s prognosis, but we can support them along their journey and help them to have the best possible quality of life to the end of life.”

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