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Theme: Our care and services

Fiona wins bronze award at the British Journal of Nursing Awards

July 1, 2022 | 11:43am

Fiona, a lymphoedema specialist at St Ann’s Hospice, collected a bronze award at the British Journal of Nursing Awards 2022.

The honour took her by surprise as she was even unaware she had been nominated and she is not actually a nurse, her prize coming in the Chronic Oedema Nurse of the Year category.

Fiona, who is also affiliated to Macmillan in her role as a palliative care specialist, has treated patients at Heald Green and Little Hulton in nine years at St Ann’s.


I feel slightly embarrassed by the award, but it’s nice to get the recognition for our lymphoedema work and, if anything, it highlights how important our services are.

I love my job and making a difference to people who might have been searching for treatments over a long time to help them manage their condition. It’s an under-staffed and under-resourced service in this country.

More people than you think suffer from lymphoedema, which can lead to other problems like wounds, infections and sepsis.

“People with cancer can experience lymphoedema, but it can also be congenital or occur due to other conditions such as vascular problems and cellulitis.

It limits what people can do in their life. One lady I treated recently had swollen ankles and couldn’t get her shoes back on after not going outdoors for two years in the pandemic. After three weeks of treatment, she was able to send us a photo of her at her local restaurant.
People are grateful there’s a service out there which helps them get a better quality of life.


Fiona Sanderson

Lymphoedema is a swelling caused by an impaired lymphatic system and affects any part of the body. Most common areas are arms or legs, but the head, neck, breast, abdomen and genital area can also be affected. It is estimated that lymphoedema affects between 263,000-422,000 people in the UK

Support for you

When you’re living with a life-limiting illness, you can experience physical, psychological, emotional or social issues which mean that you don’t quite feel like you.

The Being You Centre at St Ann’s is here to help you get back to feeling like yourself again.

Find out about The Being You Centre




Neil embarks on a gruelling adventure for St Ann’s

June 11, 2022 | 8:40pm

His late mum Jo and St Ann’s Hospice counsellor Hazel Wilcock, who helped him cope with his grief and who also died, will be uppermost in his thoughts. So too close friend Jamie Horrocks, from Irlam, whose family set up a trust after he took his own life in 2013.  

 Their memories will be honoured when Neil attempts a 2,000-mile journey from Lisbon back to his home in Salford, including a major detour south to Gibraltar! 

 Using his trusty black bike, Neil hopes to complete his poignant ride in two weeks and raise funds for St Ann’s and the trust which bears Jamie’s name.  

 Days after mum Jo died of cancer in 2017 in the care of the St Ann’s Hospice @Home team, Neil received bereavement support from Hazel, the charity’s senior counsellor. 

   


Hazel was inspirational and changed my life, helping me through the darkest times I’ve faced in terms of grief, mental health and depression. I’m half way through a podiatry degree at Salford University and wouldn’t be doing that without Hazel. This challenge is a tribute to my mum, Hazel and Jamie. Mum had wanted to stay at home and St Ann’s were very forthcoming, offering support to cater for her needs and wishes.
The Jamie Horrocks trust highlights the importance of getting support, talking and normalising conversations around mental health.


Neil Williamson

Hazel died in an explosion at her home in Bury early last year.  

 To sponsor Neil visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/neil-williamson18 

Could you do something amazing like Neil?

Find out how you can fundraise for St Ann’s Hospice

Here!




Bargain lovers in the area will be in for a treat this month thanks to a special sale!

May 25, 2022 | 11:04pm


We get so many amazing items donated to the hospice, and many are sold in our shops around Greater Manchester or in our online stores. But, we know how much people love a bargain, so have also decided to run this special sale at our big Distribution Centre in Reddish. It will be perfect for people who love to have a browse, and with hundreds of items available, they’re sure to come away with some great deals.


Ryan Perkins, Co Head of Trading at St Ann’s

Trading Company Ryan Perkins Reception

The sale, which will be open from 9am to 1pm, will take place at St Ann’s Hospice Distribution Centre, Bankfield Industrial Estate, Unit A1, Coronation Street, Reddish, SK5 7SE. 


As with all of our shops, money raised will help the hospice to continue providing its specialist care to people from across Greater Manchester and parts of Cheshire – so as well as grabbing a bargain, shoppers can also be reassured to know that their purchases are making a real difference too.


Ryan Perkins, Co Head of Trading at St Ann’s

Do you love a bargain??

We have 10 charity shops! Find out more

Here!




Equity of care

May 17, 2022 | 10:24pm

Sadly, for many reasons, there are lots of people from local communities that historically haven’t had access to the same levels of health care as they deserve. 

There are lots of reasons for this, but at St Ann’s we believe that everyone, whatever their background and whoever they are, deserves the same high quality care at the end of their life as they do when they’re born. 

Sometimes palliative or end of life care can be seen as less of a priority, but ensuring people access to specialists and other experts, are listened to, and that their wishes are met as fully as possible as they near the end of life is so incredibly important – and it also helps those closest to them.  After all, we don’t stop being ourselves when we are nearing the end of our life; we still have things which are important to us, that we want to do and share, and goals we want to achieve. 

A recent announcement that hopefully palliative care is to be specifically recognised within health legislation for the first time in England, with a possible amendment to the Health and Care Bill, is a significant step forward in the statutory footing of palliative and end of life care.  This recognises the importance of these services, and also highlights the need for proper funding for the care of patients with palliative and end of life needs.  We are hoping this will lead to an even greater focus on the importance of specialist care for local people and will be watching developments closely – being loud and proud about the importance of that care. 

When it comes to hospices, there are many communities that historically haven’t always thought of us as a place that might be able to support them or their loved ones.  Whether that’s because of religious beliefs – many presume we are a Christian organisation because of our name, when actually it’s because our first hospice site is situated on St Ann’s Road North in Heald Green – cultural, or other individual reasons, we’re really keen to break-down barriers and reach as many members of our local community as possible. 

We’ve been doing lots of projects to spread the word about our care, and how it can benefit people right from the point of diagnosis of a life-limiting illness, right through their treatment and beyond.  We’ve been developing services too, aimed at reaching into a variety of communities at the heart of our city to improve access to specialist hospice care for anyone who needs it. 

For example, our award-winning homeless palliative care service is there to support people without a home who have a life-limiting illness, acting as a vital cog to join together various spokes of social and health care across the city. Those we’ve worked with have given their appreciation, whether that’s for supporting them through their illness, helping them to get their affairs in order, reconnecting them with loved ones, or supporting those who have suffered a bereavement.   

We’ve also been reaching out to members of the LGBT+ community to help improve access to our services, as well as people in prison, and individuals with learning disabilities. 

We know that while there’s a huge amount of work going on in this area, there’s still lots to be done, but we’re really proud of the work we’ve been doing to improve the lives of local people.   

We’re always keen to spread the word and improve access to care for all, so do get in touch if you’d like to know more. 

Interested in reading more news stories from St Ann’s?

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St Ann’s Hospice has launched a brand new training and education programme

May 17, 2022 | 10:12pm
Staff training session

Highlights in the coming months include ‘Basic skills for teaching and training’, and a workshop which gives an insight into ‘Inequalities in palliative care’, particularly for professionals supporting members of the homeless, LGBTQ+ communities and people with learning disabilities who have traditionally faced  barriers when accessing end of life care. 

There will also be courses on how to support patients with symptoms of breathlessness and fatigue, and a raft of bitesize courses both online and in person which cover a range of topics in the field of palliative care.  The bitesize sessions can be booked for just £15, or can be purchased in a pick and mix bundle for use by an individual or across an organisation at £100 for 10.  Topics include how to recognise when someone is dying, symptom control, communication skills, frailty, and dementia and end of life care, and lots of other topics to empower and educate staff supporting people with palliative and end of life care needs. 


As an organisation with more than half a century of experience in palliative and end of life care, and also in delivering innovative projects across non-clinical departments as well, we’re passionate about sharing our knowledge with others. This schedule of training and education courses is something we’re really excited about, and it has been designed to reflect some of the key topics in palliative and end of life care currently. We’re hoping professionals from the local area and beyond will want to join us either in person or online to help refresh and expand their skills and knowledge. We have people from a wide variety of backgrounds who join us for the training, whether that’s from hospital, hospice or other healthcare settings, or from care homes and other social care providers. We’re always happy to support people with their training needs, so would always encourage people to get in touch if they do have specific requirements too.



Jude Holt, Head of Practice Development at St Ann’s Hospice

St Ann’s Hospice is one of the oldest and largest hospices in the UK and provides care from its two sites in Little Hulton and Heald Green as well as via a range of community and outreach service.  The organisation celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and with its current Heald Green building dating more than 100 years old, is currently embarking on an ambitious project to build a new hospice in Heald Green on land adjacent to its current site to meet the future care needs of local people. 

For further details about the training courses being run by St Ann’s Hospice, or to book a place, please visit www.sah.org.uk/training or contact Abby Evans on education&training@sah.org.uk or 0161 498 3616. 

Happy birthday to us!

May 17, 2022 | 7:38am
Rachel McMillan sat in the hospice gardenholding a metal forget-me-not

After such an amazingly busy 50th anniversary year in 2021, it would have been easy to think that as we celebrate our 51st birthday, things would be quieter and that the hospice would have much less going on.  But, I’m excited and pleased to say that couldn’t be further from the truth…

It’s right that anniversaries are a time to stop briefly and take stock.  They are a great opportunity to look back and reflect on what’s gone well – the memories that have been created, and everything that has been achieved.

Whilst the last twelve months certainly brought plenty of challenges as we continued to care and support people during the pandemic, I couldn’t be prouder of the fact that we’ve also carried on moving forward at pace.

Teams across the hospice have continued to innovate and improve services, being brave and bold and reaching out to new communities who have historically found it harder to access palliative and end of life care.

Collaborations have been key, whether that’s staff and volunteers working hard across teams to ensure the very best, compassionate care for patients; local healthcare professionals who have worked with us to improve that care; or funders and supporters who have enabled our work to happen.  It’s been an amazing year and most importantly our patients and those closest to them have remained at the heart of everything we’ve done.


Ensuring patients remain at the centre of our work is something which is driving our work in 2022 and beyond too.


Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive

As well as the evolution of our services, we have also been carrying out work to ensure our Little Hulton hospice remains fit for the future needs of patients too.  We are also heading into the next half a century of care with an exciting project to build a brand new hospice in Heald Green. The new site will be on land adjacent to our current hospice there, and is being developed as our old building is no longer fit for purpose – parts are more than 150 years old and not conducive to modern hospice care.

It’s ambitious, but it’s absolutely necessary.  If we don’t do this urgently, we’re in danger of having to close or reduce services in the near future.  The project has been carefully planned to sit alongside our recently innovated services and wide range of community and outreach provisions, which will together mean we are able to remain an organisation of choice for people from across Greater Manchester and parts of Cheshire.

We’ll be sharing more on this exciting project in the next few months, so please watch this space.

Huge, huge, thanks for all your support over the last year, and for joining us on this exciting journey as we start the next phase of St Ann’s history.

Over the last 51 years something which has remained true is that we couldn’t do what we do without the community that supports us.  Thank you so much for everything you’ve helped us achieve – and continue to help us do for our patients and their families, now and in the future too.

 

Want to find out more about our exciting plans for the future?

Read all about our ambitious project to create a new hospice for local people now.

Find out more now




A big thank you to our nurses for International Nurses Day!

May 10, 2022 | 9:14pm


Thanks to all of the incredible hospice nurses who chose to work at St Ann’s Hospice, for their hard work, commitment, expertise and compassion. On this day we celebrate the amazing contribution that our nurses make to the lives of so many patients and their families, and thank them for their contribution.
As a nurse, and Director of Clinical Services at St Ann’s Hospice, I am proud of our team, and to work in organisation which invests in nursing, their development, their well-being and their growth.



Emma Dixon, Director of Clinical Services

Rachel McMillan’s latest blog – Collaborations for the future

March 30, 2022 | 4:21pm

Look at the recent partnership with Greggs and Primark, for example – sausage rolls and t-shirts don’t have an obvious synergy, but their collaboration has been reported in the press and on social media too, with sales doing brilliantly. Their partnership is definitely not a pasty… 

But, many people don’t realise that in health and social care, partnerships are critical to what we do too.  Working in collaboration with others is the best way to ensure excellent care for patients and it’s vitally important. 

With headlines rightly focusing on the NHS, especially during the pandemic, we’re all acutely aware of resourcing and pressures that teams are under. 

But, when thinking of that big health and social care picture, it’s also important to remember charities and other organisations who work alongside the NHS to ensure patients and those closest to them receive the very best holistic care. Partnerships are key to enable care that truly wraps around the patient whether in hospital, in the place they call home, or out in the community. 


At St Ann’s, collaboration is also at the heart of everything we do.  Whether that’s supporting NHS colleagues or sharing our specialist knowledge and expertise, working alongside others is incredibly important. 


A great example I’m really proud of is that we’ve recently joined forces with The Christie to provide chemotherapy services and other anti-cancer treatments at our Little Hulton hospice site.  In practice, this means that some patients who live in Salford or near to Little Hulton no longer need to cross the city to go to The Christie hospital for their treatment.  They can simply come to our hospice instead. 


We’ve had great feedback from the patients who have done so, including one man who lives in Little Hulton and was thrilled he could walk to and from his treatment, rather than have to get multiple buses.  It may sound like a simple project, but it’s one that has really improved the experiences of local patients, and that makes us proud. 


We’ve also been working with members of the homeless community in the city centre, helping to improve the experiences of homeless people who may need palliative or end of life care.  Teaming up with professionals from across the sector, whilst sharing our specialist knowledge, has meant that we’ve been able to improve the lives of homeless patients, whilst also helping to ensure that their needs and wishes are better met, especially as they near the end of their life.  This can only be achieved with a fully joined up approach, working with the various agencies and individuals, to achieve the best outcomes. 

There’s also a really exciting partnership in progress with the University of Salford, who we’ve collaborated with to deliver an exciting palliative care focused leadership and management masters programme for clinical leaders and future leaders.  It’s really great to be able to share our knowledge and expertise with others, and to help equip healthcare professionals with the tools to deliver even better care for patients and those closest to them. 

Collaborations like these take time to build and deliver, and they’re not always talked about as much as the sausage rolls and t-shirts of this world might be.  But, with them, the care patients and their families receive is truly better, and that’s definitely worth shouting about. 

Find out more about our different services and partnerships

Click here