A brand-new hospice service in North Derbyshire is supporting local patients to stay in the comfort of their own home as they near the end of their life.
Our Roaming Car service – launched in June 2023– provides urgent care for patients over the age of 18 who have a life-limiting illness such as, but not limited to, cancer, heart disease or lung disease.
The service runs from 10pm until 7am, seven days a week, 365 days a year, enabling a nurse and a healthcare assistant to provide nursing care; symptom management; psychological and emotional support; personal and catheter care; and verification of an expected death.
Since the service started on 20th June 2023, the team has supported 89 patients by providing 204 episodes of care. Many of these interventions will have avoided the need for ambulance transfers, A&E department input, or hospital admission; keeping patients where they wish to be: in the comfort of their own home with their loved ones beside them.
Hospice staff at the launch event
A special event took place at Matlock Town Football Club on Thursday 28th September, with dedicated hospice supporters including local residents and businesses invited to celebrate the launch of the vital new local service.
Shane O’Reilly, hospice CEO, explains: ‘We have run a successful Hospice at Home service for eight years, providing planned care, day and night, for people in their own home. We have seen the demand for this service grow but we have also seen first-hand the need for an urgent response service, to help keep people at home.
‘We know that, when given a choice, many local people would prefer to be cared for in their own home. The challenge is that, for people with life-limiting illnesses, as their condition deteriorates, so can their symptoms, and many people end up going to hospital when there was potential to be treated at home.
Ruth Brown, hospice trustee; Shane O’Reilly, hospice CEO, and Laura Savile, HR and volunteer manager
‘Often, patients may experience painful or distressing symptoms in the middle of the night, causing huge concern for worried loved ones, and it may take several hours to get medical support. The Better End of Life report published in 2022 demonstrated the increased rate of out-of-hours A&E visits as people near the end of life. Many of these attendances were felt to be avoidable with access to the right care. With help from our community to raise vital funds, we were able to launch the new Roaming Car service in June 2023.
‘We’d like to say a genuine and sincere thank you to our corporate supporters – Proctor Cars, NFU Mutual and Breedon Group plc – whose incredible support means that our Roaming Car is completely free of charge for the hospice to run. The Hyundai hybrid electric vehicle has been fully sponsored by the three local businesses, including all the servicing, MOT and ongoing fuel costs.’
Robert was cared in the comfort of his Chapel-en-le-Frith home for two nights in August 2023 by Roaming Car nurses who visited twice each night to administer medication into Robert’s syringe driver to help with his discomfort.
Sheila, Robert’s wife, explained: ‘The Roaming Car service nurses were a God send; they were amazing. The team arrived within a matter of minutes of our call. We couldn’t have done it without them. They administered medication when Robert was anxious and in pain; feeling so agitated and struggling to breathe. We couldn’t ever have accessed those meds through the night. The team was so caring with him; they treated him like a person even though he wasn’t really speaking at this point.
‘The service is a wonderful thing. It was so reassuring and gave us peace of mind to know that the team was there through the night and that they could help you. If that ever stopped, I don’t know how people would cope. If I’d have been on my own I’d never have coped and Robert would have been in agony and ended up having to go into hospital, something he really didn’t want.’
Robert died peacefully in the comfort of his own home on 2nd August 2023.
The Roaming Car team works collaboratively with health and social care providers including GPs, nursing and community services, as well as night-time service providers such as NHS 111, ensuring that patients get seen by the team best placed to help them, as quickly as possible.
Tim Mourne, chairman of the board of trustees at Blythe House and Helen’s Trust, at the launch event
It now costs £2million every year to keep the hospice’s services running; that’s just over £5,479 per day. The hospice receives less than 50% of its income for the Roaming Car service from the Government, and must raise over 50% through fundraising and donations. Thanks to the remarkable generosity of the local community, the care and support Blythe House and Helen’s Trust provides remains completely free of charge to local people.
Tim Mourne, chairman of the board of trustees at Blythe House and Helen’s Trust, spoke at the launch event on Thursday 28th September. He said: ‘We are committed to ensuring patients across North Derbyshire receive equity of high-quality, palliative and end of life care. For many families, night time can be a lonely and scary place; and this is where the idea for the Roaming Car service came from. Our winter appeal in 2022 was dedicated to raising funds for the service. At that time, I don’t think anyone realised that six months later we’d have the car and be running operationally. It’s all thanks to the appeal and the generosity of our local community.’
