BUSINESS NEWS
Together, closer to home
Four hospices have formed a pioneering partnership to expand specialist palliative and end-of-life care across Staffordshire. By combining their expertise and resources, they aim to help hundreds more people receive urgent support in the place where they would prefer to be cared for.
When somebody’ s condition changes or a family suddenly needs urgent support, having specialist care available quickly can make all the difference.
A new collaboration between four hospices aims to ensure that more people across Staffordshire can access that help closer to home.
Dougie Mac, Katharine House Hospice, St Giles Hospice and Compton Care have joined forces to expand rapid response and hospice virtual ward services across the region.
The organisations believe it is one of the first partnerships of its kind in England and could provide a model for closer collaboration between the voluntary sector and the NHS.
Backed by investment from NHS Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board, the service will provide a more coordinated response for people with complex palliative and end-of-life care needs.
Its central aim is to give patients faster access to specialist support when their condition changes or urgent care is required.
By responding quickly, hospice teams hope to help more people remain in their preferred place of care and prevent hospital admissions where they are not necessary.
The scheme will also support patients to leave hospital sooner when appropriate. Specialist hospice teams will help them return home or move into another suitable care setting, easing pressure on hospital beds while ensuring that patients continue to receive the support they need.
The Rapid Response and Hospice Virtual Ward scheme builds on the hospices’ existing 24-hour Specialist Advice and Referral Line.
Teams from the four organisations will work closely with NHS partners to deliver faster symptom management, crisis intervention and proactive care planning as demand for palliative and end-of-life services continues to increase.
David Webster, Chief Executive of Dougie Mac Hospice, described the partnership as a“ genuine landmark event” for hospice care in Staffordshire.
He said:“ Not only have we secured collective funding for the next two years to provide specialist support beyond the extensive community services we already deliver, but by unifying our resources and expertise we have shown that hospices can spearhead essential change in our health system.
“ We may even have created a template for others to follow, with the voluntary sector and the NHS partnering in a way that provides personalised, joined up care to people when they most need it, whilst freeing up valuable NHS beds.
“ The four hospices share a goal of expanding hospice care at home, preventing unnecessary admissions to hospital and widening access to specialist, holistic, hospice care.
“ This pioneering collaboration helps us do that at scale. Hundreds more patients will benefit from our collective approach and I’ m personally delighted and proud to be part of this contemporary example of hospice care.”
Each hospice already provides extensive support within its own communities. The new approach is designed to build on those services by bringing their resources and expertise together across a wider area.
For patients, the benefit will be access to specialist help when it is most urgently required. For families, it could provide greater confidence that changes in a loved one’ s condition can be managed quickly and in a familiar setting where possible.
The collaboration also demonstrates the role hospices can play within the wider health and care system.
By working collectively with NHS partners, the four organisations aim not only to widen access to hospice care but also to reduce avoidable admissions and help patients leave hospital safely when they no longer need to be there.
The two-year funding agreement gives the partnership an opportunity to deliver that approach at scale and assess whether similar collaboration could benefit other parts of the country.
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