The Peace Hospice

Hospice at Home
What we plan to do next year 2008 - 2009
We aim to expand Hospice at Home across Hertsmere, to cover the whole of our area.
We aim to start making visits in the evenings and at night time.
Our Hospice at Home team provides patients and their families
with a greater choice of care, allowing them to receive support
from the comfort of their home. We aim to treat patients with
a variety of symptoms related to advanced disease. We also
provide psychological support and support for family and
carers including respite care.
What we planned
to do last year Our achievements
We aimed to expand the service in Watford
& Three Rivers, and extend to patients of
the GP practices in Borehamwood, as a
step on the way to providing for the whole
of Hertsmere.
We aimed to persuade the West
Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust to
contribute funds toward an extension
of the service, and to fund cover in the
evenings and the night time.
Figures
Facts&
Our care at home grew by
11.5% during the last 12 months
We cared for 116 new patients, a rise
of 11.5%. A small part of this came
from beginning to care for patients in
Borehamwood and Elstree.
We learned in July 2008 that our bid was
successful. We also set aside charitable
funds in our 2008/09 budget to complete
the expansion.
Bereavement counselling, family support and spiritual care
Our Bereavement Service is an important part of the care the
Hospice provides, not just for relatives, friends and carers of
patients who we have looked after, but for anyone who has
been bereaved within the South West Hertfordshire area.
What we planned
to do last year Our achievements
We aimed to add a new group of oneto-one
counsellors to the bereavement
service.
We aimed to increase the number of
STARS programmes for children who have
lost someone special, if the number of
referrals continued to rise.
We aimed to continue a broad range of
services.
We aimed to review our spiritual care in
the latter part of the year.
We aimed to review our Family Services
Team.
Figures
Facts&
The Bereavement Team has helped
542 new people over the last 12 months
Eight new counsellors started in the
autumn, helping us keep up with the
requests for counselling sessions.
We offered another programme, but it was
cancelled due a lack of participants.
In total, 342 new people received support,
whether in one-to-one counselling, home
visiting, family therapy, a social group,
ongoing support over the telephone, or
the STARS programme.
A further 199 people simply used our
helpline, where support was given,
including advice about other specialist
counselling services.
The main review was postponed to
2008/09.
The team not only supports patients and
their families, but also supports our staff.
As a result of the review, we decided to
recruit another part-time social worker.
What we plan to do next year 2008 - 2009
We will continue to provide our
range of bereavement support,
and consider the scope for more
expansion.
We aim to expand the Family
Services Team, in line with the
review, appointing another parttime
team social worker.
We will increase awareness across
South West Herts of our STARS
programme for children.
We aim to keep looking for ways to
enhance our support for children
and young people.
We aim to review the spiritual care
we offer.
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