They do a superb job. I cannot praise them enough. I am coping with my life with a regained confidence.Day care patient

All quotations are used with permission.

Finding out more about day care

If you’re wondering if you could benefit from attending day care at St Ann’s Hospice, this information will help you decide whether or not day care is suitable for you. If you need more information, you are welcome to come and have a look around, either on your own or together with your family, friends or those who care for you. To help us give you the time you need, this should be organised beforehand, either by contacting your district nurse or by calling day care directly using the appropriate telephone number on the right. If no-one is available, there is an answerphone where you can leave a short message.

The aim of day care

Day care can help you with a range of issues which you may be having difficulty with such as physical, emotional, social, spiritual and psychological problems. The aim of attending day care is to help you manage your symptoms, help you gain more confidence at home (by assessing your personal needs) and help improve your quality of your life.

Day care’s services – a range of services to support you

While at day care you may be offered a range of services; these will be dependent on your individual needs and will be agreed with your key worker – the specific nurse who will be there to support you. Our services may include:

• pain and symptom control.
• access to help and advice with benefits and financial matters, to help with practical matters such as home adaptations and to help unravel the complexities of being in an unfamiliar situation.
• breathlessness support.
• lymphoedema management.
• a wide range of social activities, including day trips and entertainment, to help people make friends and enjoy new experiences.
• a programme of creative therapy activities, such as painting and craft-making, to help people rediscover their creative side and gain pleasure from creativity.
• practical services, such as hairdressing.
• help with ‘body image’, practical and psychological support in dealing with the impact of illness and treatment on the person.
• complementary therapies, such as reflexology and aromatherapy, to support a person’s whole well-being.
• counselling, from experienced and supportive professionals, to help patients, carers and families cope through a difficult time.
• relaxation and exercise, to help improve a person’s overall health.

A professional team, here to help

Your key worker

On your first visit you will meet with one of our nurses who will be your key worker. Your key worker, alongside a doctor, will assess your specific needs and will recommend those of our services which are more relevant to you. Your key worker and our multidisciplinary team will regularly review your progress and the care provided – which may include discharge to other community services. Working on your behalf, your key worker is your central point of contact at the hospice.

Transport

We have an excellent team of volunteer drivers who, if required, can collect you in the morning and return you home when day care is over. If getting in and out of a car is difficult, we can provide a hospice ambulance with an accompanying nurse. The ambulance has a hydraulic lift, so can accommodate visitors who are in a wheelchair. All of our transport is free of charge.

Our multidisciplinary team

We help to look after the ‘whole needs of the whole person’ – to do this, we have a multidisciplinary team which works to help support all of your needs.

The multidisciplinary team includes:

• Administrative staff
• Breathlessness therapist
• Chaplains
• Complementary therapist
• Counsellor
• Creative therapist
• Dietician
• Doctors
• Hairdresser
• Lymphoedema specialist
• Nurses
• Occupational therapist
• Pharmacist
• Physiotherapist
• Psychological support nurse
• Social workers

Working with your GP

We will inform your GP that you are attending day care and also liaise with any other health care professionals involved in your care, including district nurses, consultants and Macmillan nurses.

While attending day care, you remain under the care of your GP. The hospice’s doctors may suggest changes in your tablets or medicines; if this happens, your GP will be informed and he or she will continue to provide your prescriptions.

Who can access day care?

Patients who have a diagnosis of a progressive life-limiting illness with associated difficult pain and symptom control problems and/or psychological, social or spiritual issues - and whose needs cannot be fully met by primary health and social care professionals. Patients also need to be well enough to attend.

How to access day care

Referral can be made by general practitioners, district nurses, hospital medical teams, community or hospital specialist palliative teams and social care teams. This must be done using a hospice referral form.

Referrals can also be initiated by the patient, but this will be in consultation with the above health and social care specialists.