We are celebrating the fifth anniversary of a hugely successful service that ensures local patients can die in the comfort of their own home, if that is their wish.
Staff and volunteers at the launch party in 2016
Since its inception in 2016, Blythe House Hospicecare’s Hospice at Home service has supported over 880 patients, and provided more than 57,200 hours of palliative and end of life care. The service’s official anniversary is Sunday 11th April 2021.
Hospice at Home provides care to patients who are within their last 12 months of life, across the High Peak and Hope Valley. Since its partnership with Helen’s Trust began in September 2020, support now extends to cover the Derbyshire Dales and North East Derbyshire.
During the past year alone, the 24/7 service has enabled over 190 local patients to stay safe at home, when they might otherwise have been admitted to hospital, where no visitors have been allowed.
Helping to alleviate this pressure on NHS services during the Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020, Hospice at Home healthcare assistants have provided over 17,000 hours of care, to patients across 20 local towns and villages.
The service receives referrals for a variety of reasons, which include ensuring a patient can return home from hospital safely; so that a family member or carer can get some much-needed rest; and so patients are able to die in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by their loved ones.
Janet Dunphy, Blythe House Hospicecare and Helen’s Trust CEO, said: ‘We are immensely proud of our Hospice at Home service and everything that it has achieved in its short but staggering lifetime so far. Founded thanks to a generous donation left in the will of a local person, the service has grown and evolved over the past five years, and is seen as an essential provider of the highest quality end of life care by our funders, fellow providers and community professionals.
‘The past year during Covid-19 especially, we have seen the importance of people wishing to stay safe at home, instead of being admitted to hospitals or other in-patient units where no family or visitors have been permitted. Hospice at Home has enabled so many local patients to stay at home, with their loved ones beside them.
‘We are grateful to the hundreds of local families who’ve allowed us into their homes to provide compassionate care to patients who wish to die with dignity in their own, comfortable surroundings. We are looking forward to the next five years and beyond, to continue the Hospice at Home legacy.’
Here, in her own words, Ruth explains more about her esteemed career: ‘It all started when two aunts died leaving behind young children, and my father was killed in an accident at work before I was 12 years old, my wonderful mother became both parents. I had to dig deep, growing up very quickly and helping to support my brother, who was five years my junior. I left school without qualifications despite a grammar school scholarship; turning my back on education as it had mattered so much to both my parents.
Sue Boulton (second from left), from Buxton, took part alongside work colleagues in memory of a friend and co-worker. She said: ‘It was about taking part in something that would make a difference to Blythe House. To help raise that much needed funding, enabling them to give support, advice and care to everyone in our community that needs it.
Andrew Foreshew-Cain (left) from Chapel-en-le-Frith became a Community Volunteer in 2018, providing practical support and companionship to hospice patients and their families, including during last year’s COVID-19 national lockdowns.
Judy Gill (right) started to volunteer at the Buxton charity shop on Eagle Parade around four years ago, after accessing support from the hospice following her partner, Jeff’s lung cancer diagnosis.
Jasmyn Walton (left, with friends at the 2019 Jingle Bell Jog) gives her time to support the hospice’s weekend fundraising events in roles including marshalling and registration of participants.
Blythe House Hospicecare’s third annual Jingle Bell Jog was reimagined for the current times, and saw local runners take on 5km routes in their own communities on Sunday 6th December, instead of coming together at Buxton’s Pavilion Gardens as in previous years.
Well, the sun will shine, eventually! We will be out in our gardens again, we will be immunised and Blythe House will continue to be alongside you.
The charities provide 24/7 palliative and end of life care in the homes of patients with life-limiting illnesses including cancer, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and neurological conditions like motor neurone disease.
