Our care and services Archives - Page 13 of 20

Launch of The Being You Centre @ St Ann’s

September 20, 2019 | 3:49pm

We are launching an innovative service for patients across Greater Manchester at the end of September. The Being You Centre @ St Ann’s offers support to people living with life-limiting illnesses, which focusses on what’s important to them and being themselves.

We’ve been looking at our Day Therapy service recently and how we can make it even better for those people who need our support. The service has been transformed and is now called The Being You Centre @ St Ann’s. This name has been chosen simply because we want to help people be themselves again! We believe that an illness shouldn’t define anybody – we look past that and see a person, not just a patient or a diagnosis. Our ethos is to always treat people as the individuals that they are.

When someone is living with a life-limiting illness, they can experience physical, psychological, emotional or social issues which mean that they don’t quite feel like themselves. At The Being You Centre @ St Ann’s, based at our Heald Green and Little Hulton hospices, people are assessed and referred to our recently renewed specialist services, depending on their own particular needs, wishes and goals. That may include a breathlessness programme, an exercise group, physiotherapy, relaxation, pain and symptom control or complementary therapy, amongst a whole host of other services.

Rachel McMillan, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Clinical Services at St Ann’s

Brian Hughes is 65 and has been living with chronic heart disease for around 22 years. He’s recently been referred to The Being You Centre.

I’ve enjoyed it so much and I’ve met lots of people in the same boat as me. The Creative Therapist encouraged me to try some crafts. It’s very relaxing and you can’t help but have a laugh. I see the hospice doctors when I’m here, I also see the Occupational Therapist who helps me with advice for when I’m at home and I take part in an exercise group. It’s a perfectly relaxed environment. It’s not a frightening experience, not by a long way. You’re the main person to them, it’s what you want that counts and your family are made to feel just as important. I’ve enjoyed it very much.

Brian Hughes, Patient at The Being You Centre

Find out more about The Being You Centre @St Ann’s

click here

Food, glorious food!

September 5, 2019 | 9:22am

Food is very important to us here at St Ann’s. Whether that’s a biscuit with a brew, or a cake to celebrate a birthday, or a hearty lunch to see us through the afternoon, you can’t get very far in our hospices without coming across something delicious.

We know food is very important to the people we care for too – on one of our feedback forms, a family member once wrote “My dad said you make the best poached eggs ever.” That’s why we do all we can to ensure we provide the very best food for our patients.

We have a dietitian who helps to ensure that patients are getting the nutrition they need. Different illnesses and treatments can impact on a person’s ability to eat or swallow, and food may taste different. We can help create plans and develop solutions to ensure our patients are getting the nutrition they need.

We’ve refreshed our food and drink offerings in the coffee shops in our hospices, to provide a wider choice and healthier options.

We’ve also looked at how we can be as kind to the environment as possible, moving to glass instead of plastic milk bottles and introducing new packaging which is compostable and made from renewable or recycled materials.

Our incredible catering team are often called upon to create treats for our patients. Whether it’s an extra special birthday cake, or a buffet to celebrate a national holiday, or a wonderful Christmas dinner, we never fail to be amazed by what they come up with.

We believe in taking care of the whole person, and to us, that certainly includes ensuring everyone is well fed!

St Ann’s appoint new Associate Medical Director

August 6, 2019 | 11:48am

Dr David Waterman, who is a Consultant Physician in Palliative Medicine, has been working within Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, Stockport Community, and St Ann’s Hospice since 2005. He has been the Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Strategic Clinical Network palliative care clinical lead since 2015.

Dr Waterman has been an important part of the St Ann’s team as a Consultant for many years, and his knowledge and experience has been invaluable. We’re delighted he has agreed to take up the post as our new Associate Medical Director, especially at what is a very exciting time for the hospice as we approach our 50th anniversary in 2021.
We have ambitious development plans as we head towards this important historical landmark, and with Dave’s significant strategic clinical experience helping us, we are looking forward to continuing to evolve and ensure we can provide care to local patients well into the next century too.

Eamonn O’Neal , Chief Executive of St Ann’s Hospice

Dr Waterman will be working closely with the hospice’s Medical Director Dr Philip Lomax, whilst continuing his roles in Stockport and for Greater Manchester.

I’m pleased to have taken on the role of Associate Medical Director at St Ann’s. The hospice is an organisation which has a clear vision for the future, and is committed to ensuring that it can support as many patients with life-limiting illnesses from across Greater Manchester as possible. Its innovative and ambitious approach is exciting, and I’m looking forward to being part of the plans for the future development of high quality, specialist palliative and end of life care at St Ann’s.

Dr David Waterman , Associate Medical Director of St Ann’s

Dave graduated at Newcastle University in 1995, and undertook his specialist training in Palliative Medicine in the North Western Deanery. His clinical role allows the delivery of specialist palliative care for patients and their families across Stockport and within St Ann’s Hospice.

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Little Hulton gardens transformed thanks to BetFred

June 11, 2019 | 3:57pm

Gardener Cass Lambert (2nd from left), Fred Done (4th from left) and St Anns staff and volunteers.

Fred Done, whose company BetFred has supported the hospice for many years, offered to fund work to improve the outside space at the hospice for patients to enjoy.

He arranged for his personal gardeners to spend 12 days working at St Ann’s to transform the space.

Many of our patients and their families like to sit outside of the hospice and spend time relaxing and unwinding, and we know that they really enjoy being out in the fresh air. Fred and Betfred have been so incredibly supportive of St Ann’s over many years, and we’re enormously grateful. This latest kind donation really will make such a huge difference to the lives of our patients, and we can’t thank him enough.

Eamonn O’Neal, St Ann’s Chief Executive

We’re currently celebrating 40 years since our Little Hulton site opened in 1979. His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester visited the hospice as part of our anniversary celebrations, and planted a commemorative magnolia genie tree in the gardens too.

It’s a joy to know that patients, visitors and staff are enjoying the gardens at the hospice. I’m so proud of my team that made it happen and really appreciate all of their hard work. It’s been a pleasure to create a space that everyone will be able to take advantage of as the summer approaches.

Fred Done , Co owner of BetFred

Read ‘Your Stories’

Find out more from the patients, family members and carers who have spent time at St Ann’s

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Barcelona to Manchester bike ride

June 7, 2019 | 3:44pm

Here is Andy’s story:

10.20am, May 1st 2018. A train journey from Barcelona to Madrid to cover Atletico v Arsenal.

The train passed Villafranca de Penedes when the phone went. It cut into a song called Mystify by INXS on Spotify. “Some silken moment. Goes on forever. And we’re leaving broken hearts behind.”

It was dad and it was not positive. Cancer. A secondary cancer. He’d had the first for 13 years and lived a normal life, thanks, in part to the NHS he’d paid into all his life and a drug invented in the United States in 1998. But a second one was serious. “I’m telling you son, you’re my oldest child.”

Tears. For the first team in years, and not of joy like the last time.

I knew the news was serious so did my family and I spoke to my sister for hours. We’d all try and be positive. There was treatment for dad and brave faces, M&S chocolate eclairs in The Christie hospital, unconditional love and support for him every day at home.

The news got worse and worse and worse. The drugs had worked for 13 years, but not now. Not really. Now the drugs don’t work. They just make you worse. But I know I’ll see your face again.

Dad had six months in acute and often unbearable pain. A man who never stopped complaining about Manchester United seldom complained about his own pain. It was awful to see a fit man diminish and you feel helpless. What can you do to help? We wanted to do something.

“Dad, we’re going to raise money by cycling from Barcelona to Manchester next year.”
“That’s a bit much, son. How far is it?”
“2,000 kilometres.”

I told him again a few week later.

“It’s a good idea son, but can’t you avoid the mountains?”
“No dad, I can’t move the Pyrenees.”

Charles Samuel Mitten died on November 6th 2018 in St Ann’s Hospice, Little Hulton. He was 69.

I’d told some mates about the ride. A few were on it from the start. Lads – JP and Steve Price – who have cycled extensively.

At dad’s funeral, with people five pints in and the DJ getting the place rocking (seriously!), the cycling peloton would be 200 strong. It’d shrink to three, then grow to five. My brothers Jonathan and Sam too. Five cyclists.

Then came an offer to drive from Murph. That’s 18 days unpaid. And another offer, from dad’s brother David. He’d regularly driven him to The Christie. He offered massages, cooking, cleaning and support.

Dad’s wife Jayne and my sister Hayley had been struck by the welcome they’d had at St Ann’s Hospice in the final hours of dad’s life. Could we help them?

I got in touch. St Ann’s needed an ambulance. It’s £40,000 for a new one, a lot of money to raise but we can start towards it. It’ll help out-patients, too.

A few weeks before dad died, there wasn’t even an ambulance available to take him from a hospital back home. After waiting for seven hours, his brother Sam took him instead.

We’ve been planning this for eight months. We’re all training. 120kms day after day after day won’t be easy as we go via Girona, Perpignan, Carcassone, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Cognac, Angers, Cherbourg, Portsmouth, Oxford, Birmingham and Manchester.

We’ve got sponsors too – and we’ll give them plenty of publicity – who’ll effectively pay all our costs (the support van, fuel for it and for the body) so that every single penny raised can go towards that ambulance.

Red Army Bet will pay us £5,000 (www.redarmybet.com).

Meadows Gin £2,500 (www.meadowsgin.com).

Brittany Ferries will give us free crossings across the Channel (www.brittany-ferries.co.uk).

Fat Heads, a quality Manchester creative company did the logo for us for free (https://fatheads.co.uk/).

A couple of the other lads will walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall and there will be a football tournament that dad’s youngest son, Harry, will play in.

As for the ride; we’ll tell the story of our journey along the way, with photos, videos and maybe a few podcasts if you’re interested. We can mention people who sponsor us, we might even be up for dares and making fools of ourselves if it means raising more money. But if you’ve got a spare pound to donate, you know exactly where it’s going.

If you would like to sponsor the team go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/barcelonamanchesterbikeride

Happy Volunteers’ Week 2019!

May 30, 2019 | 3:13pm

This week, people across the UK are celebrating local heroes that selflessly give their time and share their knowledge, skills and expertise to help others.

Volunteers’ Week, which is run by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, gives individuals and organisations the chance to thank and pay tribute to their volunteers, and as Chief Executive of a charity which benefits from the amazing support of so many local people, I wanted to say thank you too.

At St Ann’s, we’re incredibly fortunate to be supported by an army of more than 700 fantastic individuals from around Greater Manchester who selflessly give their time to help us and our patients.

These local heroes gave St Ann’s a staggering 73,304 hours of their time last year, which is phenomenal – we simply couldn’t continue to carry out all of our services without their support.

From working in our shops, to managing our coffee shop, from supporting teams with everything from finance and fundraising help, to assisting our staff on the to help ensure our patients have exactly what they need, volunteers help in almost every area of our charity.

We’re so grateful to them for everything they do for St Ann’s, and I’d like to thank them, and also all of the other people across Greater Manchester who selflessly give their time to support local causes. Your help really does make a huge difference, and we can’t thank you enough.

Volunteer for St Ann’s!

Find out more about volunteering opportunities at St Ann’s

Click here

We stand together

May 22, 2019 | 8:09am

We all know the impact that the horrific attack at Manchester Arena had, not just on our amazing city, but right around the world too.

That the people of Greater Manchester pulled together at such a terrible time, providing strength for each other, standing up for others, and coming together so generously to support those affected, is testament to what makes our city so great. That unity of spirit. That sense of pride in where we live. That amazing sense of being part of a much bigger community.

We were proud to have the Manchester Survivors Choir at two of our recent St Ann’s Hospice events – our annual Light up a Life service at Manchester Cathedral where we remembered the victims and dedicated a light on our special Christmas tree in honour of each of them; and at our Manchester Midnight Walk where they sang to inspire and warm up the hundreds of people who joined us to walk 10km to raise money for our patients. Their passion to create something good out of something so horrific, and support others really hit home with all of us, and it made me think about how fantastic people can be, even when facing such terrible adversity.

Every day at the hospice we are privileged to spend time with patients who are often experiencing one of the most vulnerable times of their life. Their passion to make the most of every single day, to live the very best quality of life they can, never ceases to inspire me.

Their families and friends often throw themselves into fundraising for us, which is amazing. They run, jump, hold bake sales, dress up, cycle for miles upon miles, take part in our events and activities, decide to remember us in their Will – anything they can to raise money for St Ann’s. And it’s not just family and friends either. Their neighbours, their friends of friends, their friends of friend’s work colleagues all get involved. It’s a huge and wide spread community of passionate local people, all coming together in aid of something good, and we simply wouldn’t exist without their support.

Thank you people from across Greater Manchester for everything you do. Not just for charities like St Ann’s, but also for each other. I’m so proud to call this city my home.

What do Coronation Street, Pelé, and a pile of conkers have in common?

May 17, 2019 | 8:38am

Though it may sound like it, that’s not the start of a bad joke. They’re actually all connected to a very special event that happened on this day in 1971. The day St Ann’s Hospice opened.

Today we celebrate our 48^th birthday. It’s staggering to think that the hospice has been providing care to local patients for almost half a century. In fact, we’re already in the midst of making exciting preparations for our 50^th anniversary, a huge milestone in our history, which will take place in 2021. All will be revealed soon, so watch this space.

We’ve supported hundreds of thousands of patients and families since we first opened our doors to patients on 17 May 1971. St Ann’s site in Heald Green was our first hospice, and was built thanks to a huge number of people from our local communities coming together as one. They were pioneers of their time, and in 1967, Dr Moya Cole approached the Bishop of Manchester Right Reverend Dr William Greer about setting up Manchester’s first hospice. It was just a few years after the very first hospice was opened in London, and there were big plans to create a special place for patients in Manchester to receive a new and different kind of care, right at a time when they needed it most.

Queen Mother visiting Heald Green Hospice

As plans developed, the whole city got behind the huge fundraising appeal to create a new hospice. Granada Television opened the hallowed cobbles of Coronation Street to the public for the first time ever to raise money, with visitors paying 10p admission to walk the street. Queues stretched a mile from the TV Centre to Deansgate, and actors including Violet Carson, Pat Phoenix, Doris Speed and William Roache, amongst others, gave up their weekends to sign autographs on set. A BBC North West TV appeal evening also raised thousands towards the new hospice building.

It wasn’t just Mancunians lending their support to the campaign either. Brazilian soccer star Pelé donated his yellow World Cup shirt to be raffled for the appeal, and thousands turned out to see Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, officially open the Heald Green hospice in June that year. It was a very cold day, not what you’d expect in June, and activities took place across the city to mark the opening. A band in Eccles did a 6-hour non-stop reading of War and Peace to raise extra funds, whilst a group of small boys in Bury sold conkers at four-a-penny.

I love looking back at the history of the hospice. We’ve been doing that a lot this year too, as we marked the 40^th anniversary of our Little Hulton building opening in April. I’m proud that we’ve played such an important role in our local communities for such a long time, and it’s a privilege and also a huge responsibility for us to ensure that the hospice can continue to play such an important part for many years to come too.

Hospice care has changed a lot over the years, but as I’ve said many times before, our patients remain at the very heart of what we do. We’re continually evolving and developing the care that we provide to local people, and it’s certainly an exciting time in St Ann’s history.

We’re really looking forward to sharing our plans as we approach our 50^th in 2021, and thank you for everything you do as part of the St Ann’s community. Now…I wonder how much I can raise from the pile of conkers in my garden this Autumn?

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If you can help support us to ensure we can continue to care for patients and their loved ones for years to come please donate here.

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