Our Impact - Improvement

We redesigned the education team to meet internal and external needs which led on to a collaboration project with Peace Hospice Care to create a single learning and development team. This will offer a comprehensive education and training programme across both organisations and for other palliative care providers/care homes. 

• We introduced a clinician of the day role to all hospice at home teams to  ensure that calls into the service are promptly triaged and visits efficiently arranged where needed. 
• We created new roles for operational managers in Herts and Bucks to provide heads of nursing with time to build key external relationships.  

• Our clinical management of COVID-19 was rigorous, safe and effective with clear guidance and reassurance given to staff and no known incidents of cross-infection between clinical staff and patients.
•  After early supply problems we worked collaboratively to secure supplies of personal protective equipment to keep  our staff and patients safe, becoming a regional hub for PPE delivery and collection for 19 hospices.
• Hospice at home care continued throughout as it became more important than ever to keep patients out of hospital and at home with their loved ones.​

During the first lockdown between 23 March and 31 May 2020 our hospice at home nurses were caring for a record number of 600 patients and carried out 2,586 home visits.

• We secured early vaccinations for all clinical staff, clinical volunteers and non-clinical staff who work alongside clinicians.
• As soon as they became available, clinical staff participated in twice weekly testing programmes and non-clinical staff working alongside them took regular weekly tests to detect asymptomatic cases quickly and avoid spreading the virus.

Ivor was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in April 2020, just after the UK had gone into lockdown due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Rennie Grove was privileged to support him and his wife Chris both via our core Hospice at Home Nursing Service and our volunteer-led community befriending Supporting Hands Project. A father-of-two and grandfather-of-four, Ivor was 71 when he passed away on 1 March, 2021. Ivor and Chris were married for 49 years.