Theme: Our care and services

John Webber, a patient at St Ann’s Hospice in Heald Green has said the hard work and dedication of staff has allowed him to get back home.

The 86-year-old of Stockport was diagnosed with prostate cancer approximately seven years ago. Earlier this year, John’s cancer spread to his liver. 

Upon arriving at St Ann’s Hospice, John says he was in a “sorry state”.  He is a double leg amputee, losing his first a number of years ago due to a vascular disease, and then losing the second only a few weeks before his arrival to St Ann’s. 

John has been cared for at St Ann’s and is now able to go home. He says the staff and the relationships he made at the hospice with other patients gave him a new lease of life. 

“I didn’t know much about St Ann’s and the  word hospice seemed to be a bit different from hospital. People were telling me it was a very nice place,” John said. 

“I can only say that I’m more than impressed. Even I have donated to the organisation because it depends on donations. I just feel so thankful. 

According to John, the staff go above and beyond for their patients even when it comes to something simple like food orders. 

“They’ll do their best to make anything you like. I’ll give you a wonderful example. There was one night when I had my evening meal and I didn’t order much. Then in the night , I felt a bit peckish. 

“One of the staff asked if I would like a jam butty and a hot chocolate, oh that was my idea of heaven. Just what I wanted. Not only that but she cut the crust off the bread. That just reflects the kind of place this is.” 

John said that now he is discharged he has to “change his life”. 

“I can’t walk, which should be a real adjustment but I’ll make the best of the time that I’ve got left. It’s a nice sunny day so the first port of call will be a nice cup of tea in the garden,” he said. 

We’ve been celebrating Pride Month throughout June again this year at St Ann’s Hospice, and we’re delighted to be capping it off with the news that we will be returning to the Manchester Pride Parade this year – and you can join us!

In 2023, St Ann’s staff, volunteers, supporters, and family members and friends of patients came together to walk alongside each other in our inaugural Manchester Pride Parade entry. It was a fantastic day filled with joy, alongside important conversations and connections being strengthened with the LGBTQ+ community.

We’re thrilled to be doing it all again this year on Saturday 24th August, and you – our amazing supporters – have the opportunity to join us.

You can now register your place to walk in our parade entry, or find out more information, by clicking here. We are limited to 75 places for walkers, and they will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Last year, we asked our #TeamStAnns walkers why it was important to them to take part in Pride…

If you’d like to join #TeamStAnns for Manchester Pride, click here.

Manchester Pride will our final Pride event of the summer, having attended Stockport Pride and Salford Pride’s Pink Picnic in June.

As the Progress Pride flags hung outside our Heald Green and Little Hulton hospices for Pride Month, our Stockport vintage and bridal shop got into the rainbow spirit with a special shop window for Stockport Pride on Sunday 2nd June.

Our stall at Stockport Pride raised money for the hospice by glittering up the faces of attendees, as well as offering LGBTQ+ specific palliative care resources that have been developed by St Ann’s.

Later in the month we had a similar presence in Salford, with hospice volunteers offering resources and signposting and having some valuable conversations with the community at the well-attended Pink Picnic on Saturday 22nd June.

St Ann’s remains committed to breaking down barriers which have traditionally prevented equity in access to palliative care for groups including the LGBTQ+ community, and aim to ensure we are a fully inclusive organisation. If you have any feedback or ideas to share about how we could support the LGBTQ+ community further, please email communications@sah.org.uk.

St Ann’s Hospice is proud to announce the news that our Director of Clinical Service, Emma Dixon, has been shortlisted in the Nurse Leader of the Year category at the Nursing Times Awards 2024.

This award recognises the fundamental role clinical leaders have in in ensuring the quality of nursing practice and patient care. The best act as excellent role models and demonstrating compassion and a commitment to ensuring their service offers the highest quality and safest care possible.

Speaking about her nomination, Emma said: “I am truly shocked and deeply humbled to be considered in this way and to be shortlisted for the award. It is a great honour to work at St Ann’s Hospice and to lead alongside such an incredible team.”

The award aims to recognise those nurse leaders who are aware of their patients’ needs and are firm advocates on their behalf, understand the importance of informing and reassuring patients and relatives, and have the skills to lead, support and motivate a team that is committed to offering excellent and compassionate care to all patients.

The nomination for the award was spearheaded by Head of Clinical Services at St Ann’s Hospice, Emma Barclay. The submission described Emma Dixon’s dedication and commitment to her work, making her a remarkable asset to the St Ann’s team. She shows compassion to every person she speaks to and sets an example for everyone working at St Ann’s.

Emma Barclay said: “As an Occupational Therapist I appreciate and value her inclusive approach to all health care professionals and her vision to embrace this fully. I am very proud to work with Emma in the clinical leadership team and if I were a nurse I’m pretty sure I would be even prouder to know that my profession was being represented by such a superb nurse in this vital leadership position.”

Emma Dixon is also the deputy chair of the Hospice UK National Clinical Leaders Group. Anita Hayes, Clinical Quality Lead at Hospice UK said: “Emma shares her knowledge and expertise generously within the group with a relentless focus on the values of palliative nursing and representing the voice of people with lived experience of using hospice services.

“It is a real pleasure working with Emma whose infectious enthusiasm, professionalism and care shines through encouraging and supporting colleagues and we thank her for her contribution.”

The winners of the Nursing Times Awards 2024 will be announced at event on Wednesday 23 October 2024.

Work to develop St Ann’s new hospice in Heald Green is now underway as Caddick Construction begins the main building work to replace our current hospice at St Ann’s Road North.

The start of building work is the culmination of an extensive period of engagement between Caddick and St Ann’s to bring to life our ambitious plans to secure the future of the hospice, providing much-needed specialist palliative and end-of-life care for generations to come.

The project includes a modernised 27-bedroom inpatient unit to help those impacted by life limiting illnesses across Greater Manchester.

With work now underway, Caddick will build two separate buildings connected by a linked corridor. Features will include outpatient services, dedicated bereavement and family support spaces surrounded by landscaped gardens.

The first building will house the main reception, cafe, kitchen, training space and offices as well as a Being You Centre for outpatient services. The second building will be home to the inpatient unit and family overnight rooms.

Located within the boundary of the Cheadle Royal conservation area, the new hospice will replace our existing Heald Green hospice, which is located in an adjacent Victorian building that is no longer fit for purpose.

The new St Ann’s Hospice development is the result of extensive fundraising, including thorough our Build it Together appeal, which has seen us raise more than £1.1 million to-date from public donations. The campaign aims to raise £2 million to contribute to this ambitious project.

Preparation for the development began earlier in the year, including shrub and ground clearance works ahead of the main construction activities, which are due for completion late 2025.

Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive at St Ann’s Hospice, said: “Our plans for a new hospice have been years in the making and it is wonderful to reach this important milestone in the project. I am very much looking forward to watching the new hospice take shape as Caddick starts their work.

Dave Saville, Regional Managing Director of Caddick Construction North West, commented: “St Ann’s Hospice have worked tirelessly to get their new hospice development off the ground, and we are very proud to have been on that journey with them. A project of such importance to the community calls for a great deal of care and attention, and it also requires a keen eye on ensuring we explore value for money at every opportunity. I joined Caddick at the start of this year, and while our involvement in this incredible project began long before I joined, I am very proud to lead a team that has been so dedicated to making this project a reality.

Caddick Construction is part of the wider project team working on the new hospice. Genr8 Developments LLP are project managers for the new build and architects PRP has been working with St Ann’s for several years to design the building and get to this stage in the project.

The interior design of St Ann’s Hospice’s new building will be led by Axi, who is designing and bringing to life the purpose-built hospice that is much needed by patients and their families.

Also working on the project are cost consultants Gardner & Theobald, TRP as the structural engineers and TACE as the Mechanical and Engineering consultants.

Dying Matters Awareness Week takes place from 6th-12th May and this year HospiceUK are focusing on the language that we use and the conversations we have around death and dying. Particularly, the way that healthcare professionals, patients, their carers and families talk about this.

I’ve worked at St Ann’s Hospice for 24 years, the first 15 of these being on the inpatient unit, and now working in our Being You centre. The Being You Centre is part of our outpatient section of the hospice, and our patients can access our services, therapies and sessions when needed.

We know there is a lot of fear around death and dying, which is why we try to open this conversation to our patients and their families when they’re ready. We all worry about similar aspects of dying; if it’s going to be painful, whether you’ll be on your own or with family, whether there will be the right support in place for you – which is why it’s important to have these conversations.

We often facilitate these conversations when patients have come to our Being You Centre and we know how much of a load it takes off each person’s shoulders. When someone mentions the word hospice to anyone, whether that’s a hospice patient or someone with no connection, they immediately think that that person has come to die. However, that is a big misconception that we want to dispel.

Often our patients at the Being You Centre are referred to us by their Macmillan nurse, GP or they can self-refer through our website. We find that because of the stigma around hospices, people are reluctant at first to come in. However, once they’ve seen a friendly face and understand our hospice isn’t just a place that people come to die, they’re very appreciative of the support we can give them.

We always want to see patients early in their journey, so that we can provide as much advice, guidance and support as we can throughout. This all begins with conversations around the future and for those with life-limiting illnesses who may still have months or years left, this is still important. Speaking to family and friends about this is also something we try to encourage, so that our patients can express their wishes and needs in a comfortable space.

At the Being You Centre we run a ‘Supporting You’ programme, which is six weeks long. One of the sessions focuses on future care planning, where we emphasise the importance of making plans and expressing wishes as early as we can. In addition, we also offer one-to-one sessions to our patients and their families to take these conversations further.

We know there is still a lot of work that needs to be done about removing the myths and stigma around hospices and how we care for people. Awareness weeks like this help to open up conversations around dying in a positive and safe way.

For more information on the services we provide at St Ann’s Hospice, please see our website at www.sah.org.uk/how-we-help/our-services/.