Patient & Family Support

Patient & Family Support

The Patient & Family Support Team at St Andrew’s Hospice are here to support patients’ families in addition to patients; responding to and addressing emotional, psychological, social and spiritual needs.

The Patient & Family Support Team offer support to patients and their families in coping with the emotional and practical implications of the patient’s illness and prognosis. This may involve assisting with a variety of practical needs including;

Anticipatory Care Planning
Working in partnership with community based staff and other relevant agencies or other hospice professionals to achieve patient goals and identifying carer needs.
Making referrals to carer support organisations where appropriate.
Facilitating improved communications between patients and their families and between individual family members. We call this ‘Shared Understanding Meetings’, taking a solution focused approach.
Supporting patients and family members coping with transition loss, anticipatory grief and related issues.
Constructing and facilitating discharge plans to support the patients needs & wishes.
Maintaining strong partnership links with community based resources who support patients beyond hospice based care.

Spiritual

Spiritual Care can assist our patients to maintain or re-establish trust, strength and hope and to continue to demonstrate the dignity and uniqueness of their lives.

Our Chaplain is available in the Hospice from Monday to Friday.

Start the conversation with HOPE:

Hope
What are your sources of hope,strength, comfort and peace?

Organised religion
Do you have a religion or faith? How important is your faith religion or faith to you?

Personal spirituality and practices
What do you do that gives you a sense of meaning and purpose in life or what matters most to you in your life?

Effects on medical care and end of life issues
Has being unwell stopped you doing things that give your life meaning and purpose? Are there any specific practices we should
know about in providing for your care?

Some patients may find comfort from the regular religious services held in the Hospice Chapel. The Tranquility Room is also available for personal reflection.

All staff at St Andrew’s Hospice try to give assistance in these matters, supported by the Spiritual Care Team.

Bereavement

Grieving allows us to heal, to remember with love rather than pain. It is a sorting process; letting go of the things that are gone and mourning for them while taking hold of the things that have become part of who you are and build again.

Grief affects different people in different ways and can cause intense emotional pain that is difficult to recover from. Grief encompasses a broad range of feelings and behaviours that are common after a loss.

Click here for Bereavement Support Services

Carers

St Andrew’s Hospice offers specialist palliative care, not only for the patient, but also for family members and carers. It is most important that family members and carers are emotionally and spiritually supported, both prior to and post death in a sensitive manner.

Carers’ Café – Every Monday between 12noon – 3pm
Our Carers’ Café is designed to support families and carers affected by someone living with a life-limiting condition and advanced illness. The Carers’ Café provides an opportunity for caregivers to relax, unwind, meet other carers, as well as our team who can offer information, support and advice. There is also the opportunity to receive a Complementary Therapy or participate in Adapted Tai Chi (no appointment necessary).

We can offer further help and advice if people have problems of a highly personal nature, calling on our highly skilled hospice staff, one to one support is available if necessary.

10 tips for family caregivers:

Choose to take charge of your life, and don’t let your loved one’s illness or disability always take centre stage
Remember to be good to yourself. Love, honour and value yourself. You’re doing a very hard job and you deserve some quality time, just for you
Watch out for signs of depression, and don’t delay in getting professional help when you need it
When people offer to help, accept the offer and suggest specific things that they can do
Educate yourself about your loved one’s condition. Information is empowering.
There’s a difference between caring and doing. Be open to technologies and ideas that promote your loved one’s independence
Trust your instincts, most of the time they’ll lead you in the right direction
Grieve for your losses, and then allow yourself to dream new dreams
Stand up for your rights as a caregiver and a citizen
Seek support from other caregivers. There is great strength in knowing you are not alone.

Children

Children’s Support Service

Our Children’s Support Service is designed to provide children with some insight into illness and grief and to help them put this into the perspective
of a general life experience.

The service provides children, families and carers with a safe and inviting place in which to ask questions relevant to their situation.

The service also supports parents and carers to be more aware of their children’s thoughts and feelings and enables them to deal with them in the most appropriate and sensitive way.

Members of the Patient & Family Support Team, sessional staff and volunteers staff the service which takes place each Friday from 4.30pm – 6.00pm.

Referral for children’s support is available here.

A Whole School Approach to Loss and Bereavement, a reference toolkit, providing information to help teachers support children and young people during times of loss, change and bereavement.