Sunderland Specialist Palliative Care Newsletter - Community

Michael Lee,

Art Psychotherapist

Autumn Edition 2020

Welcome to the Autumn Issue of the Newsletter. This will be produced quarterly to update you all on current issues and developments within the

service and the wider palliative care agenda.

Autumn 2020 2

OUTSTANDING CQC

We are delighted to announce St

Benedict’s Hospice & Centre for Specialist

Palliative Care has been awarded a rating

of “OUTSTANDING” in the most recent

CQC (Care Quality Commission) report.

Everyone here is so thrilled with the result

and if you would like to take a look at the report you can find it by

clicking the link below:

https://www.stbenedicts.co.uk/Useful-Links-Information/CQC-

report

Kirsty Wright, Hospice Matron said “I cannot

express how delighted and proud I am that St

Benedict’s Hospice and Centre for Specialist

Palliative Care has been rated as outstanding. I

wish to give a huge thank you to each and

every member of the team here. Given the

difficult times we are currently experiencing,

this brings it home, what a fabulous, dedicated,

committed and patient centred team we have

here, I am so proud of everyone”

Contents

Outstanding CQC / Whats New! ....

……………………………….…….. P2

Team Focus - Education Team /

Who We Are / What We Do…..….P3

Education Team / COVID19….….P4

Research & Development ……… P5

Pandemic Response ……….…… P6

Hello / Goodbye …………………. P7

Please note:

Consent has been gained from all

individuals who have been

photographed throughout the

newsletter

WHATS NEW! - Electronic Community Kardex

From the 1st August 2020 the new Community Kardex was

launched. This has replaced the green community prescription

chart which is used for anticipatory prescribing at the end of life.

The NEW Community Kardex can be initiated by the GP

electronically via a template in GP EMIS. It is saved as a

document within EMIS and can be printed onto green paper at

the GP surgery or remotely, for use in the patient’s home.

For further information please contact Dr Lisa Baker, Consultant

in Palliative Medicine, Jonathan Hindmarsh, Advanced Clinical

Pharmacist or Angela Moan, End of Life Care Facilitator on 0191

5128400.

Autumn 2020 3

Autumn Edition Team Focus

The Education Team

Who we are & what we do

St Benedict’s Hospice and Centre for Specialist Palliative Care has

a purpose built education facility and offers a range of education

and training opportunities to NHS and non-NHS staff, be it medical,

nursing, allied health professionals, ancillary staff, volunteers and

medical and nursing students.

Improving the quality of end of life care is a priority for the NHS and

remains high on the national agenda. The demand for services is

changing with people living longer and more likely to die from

chronic disease. Getting it right for people who are in the later

stages of life is essential as there is no ‘second chance’. Staff are

required to be competent and confident in the delivery of high

quality care to ensure people receive the right care in the right place

by the right people.

Most people approaching the end of life will be cared for by

generalist staff, in the community these are GP’s, district /

community nurses and care home / independent sector health and

social care staff. These groups of staff have varied access to high

quality end of life care training and development. To ensure they

receive the necessary on going training and development St

Benedict’s Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care Team provide

education and training.

Left to right: Louise Watson: Education & Development Lead in Palliative Care,

Samantha Bland: Senior Lecturer Practitioner in Palliative Care, Sarah Dodds:

Lecturer Practitioner in Palliative Care, Angela Moan: End of Life Care Facilitator,

Sophie Monaghan: Education Co-Ordinator.

Training available at St

Benedict’s Hospice &

Centre for Specialist

Palliative Care

Palliative Care Foundation

Course

Advances in Palliative Care

Deciding Right E-Learning

Deciding Right Workshop

Sage & Thyme Level 1

Communication Skills

Training

How to have realistic

conversations about what

lies ahead

Enhanced Communication

Skills Training

Management & Use of

Subcutaneous

Fluids Training

McKinley Syringe Driver

Training

Verification of Expected

Adult Death Training

For further information visit our

website via the link below:

https://www.stbenedicts.co.uk/

Autumn 2020 4

Autumn Edition Team Focus

The Education Team Response to COVID19

Due to COVID19, all planned education and training courses were

cancelled between March and end of June. A total of 16 planned

courses were cancelled (151 staff).

In response to requests to fulfil necessary learning needs due to

COVID19, the education team planned and delivered training to

STSFT Trust staff, Sunderland Care Home staff and NTW Trust Staff

between March and end of June. A total of 23 sessions were

delivered (256 staff in total).

The sessions delivered were:

Registered Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death

McKinley Syringe Driver

Communication Skills

End of Life care/ Emotional resilience and communication

End of Life Care Prescribing

End of Life Care and Support

Despite all planned courses being cancelled the demand and uptake

resulted in more staff being able to access the necessary training to

meet their learning needs. In all of the sessions the facilitators

included time and consideration to staff resilience, support and caring

for self and others.

From the feedback and comments received staff valued the

education received and benefitted from their increased knowledge.

The findings will certainly help when planning future palliative care

and End of Life Training

and Education.

Some of the comments the

team received following the

training sessions…

I feel more confident when

caring for patients who are

receiving End of Life care, as

I have being redeployed due

to COVID this is not an

environment that I usually

work in, so has really

supported me.

Carry this out with

confidence I know which

policies etc. to fall back on

and where to ask for help.

Be more in-tune with my

patients and hold importance

in connecting with my

patients to make them feel

heard.

I think the professionals in

this field clearly have

amazing skills at connecting

and communicating with

patients. Their skills to truly

care for patients are

compelling, inspiring and

contagious and I think it is

something we can all learn

from. I thought the training

session I received was

fantastic and I left feeling

very inspired. Thank you.

Rehabilitation medicine in

palliative care of chronic

neurological conditions

Krishnan P S Nair , Barbara

Chandler, Mark Lee, David

Oliver , Kate Sansam, Lenyalo

King, Suzanne Paisley, Anthea

Sutton, Anna Cantrell.

Dr Mark Lee—Consultant in

Palliative Medicine has been

involved in writing a Research

Article which has recently been

published by BMJ Journals.

A systematic literature

review has provided evidence of

palliative care for people with

long term neurological conditions

to guide rehabilitation medicine

specialists caring for these

patients in the UK.

The article can be accessed

through the link below:

https://spcare.bmj.com/content/

early/2020/08/23/bmjspcare-

2020-002415.full

Autumn 2020 5

Research & Development

Some of our staff have been involved in exciting work which we would

like to share with you all:

Jonathan Hindmarsh - Advanced Clinical Pharmacist, Dr Amy

Huggin - ST3 in Palliative Medicine, Dr Anya Belfonte - F2, Dr

Mark Lee - Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Dr Jonathan

Pickard- Consultant in Palliative Medicine had a case report

published in June 2020.

The case report was titled “Subcutaneous Olanzapine at the End of

Life in a Patient with Schizophrenia and Dysphagia”

The report can be downloaded via the link below:

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/pmr.2020.0039

Dr Jess Leighton - F2, Lesley Holmes & Ann Thompson—

Lymphoedema Specialist Nurses & Dr Mark Lee - Consultant in

Palliative Medicine had an article published in the British

Student Doctor Journal in June 2020.

The article was titled “Lymphoedema - a chronic disease, not a side

effect”

The abstract can be accessed via the link below:

https://thebsdj.cardiffuniversitypress.org/

articles/abstract/137/

A BIG THANK YOU

Benedict Biscop C.E.

Academy

We would like to say a huge thank

you to all the pupils and staff from

Benedict Biscop C.E. Academy,

Sunderland who provided lots of

pictures for our Thank You NHS

window display.

This colourful display was displayed

at the entrance to St Benedict’s

Hospice & Centre for Specialist

Palliative Care from April –July 2020.

Autumn 2020 6

Pandemic Response

Following on from a challenging few months for all, we move

into autumn adjusting to a “ new normal” and the next response

to Covid-19 escalation and local lockdown restrictions.

Most of the services from St Benedict’s Hospice & Centre for

Specialist Palliative Care have continued to provide

compassionate and specialist palliative care to patients, families

and carers through what has been the most unprecedented

times.

Through these challenging times the psychological and well-

being needs of Trust staff have been a priority and psychology

services at St Benedicts Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care

have been involved with the Trust response. A group of key

professionals engaged with staff to see what support they would

find helpful and from this process. 6 focus groups were offered

to all staff across the trust offering a chance to come together

and share experiences.

Since there has been a series of Care and Reflection sessions

open to all staff across the trust, as well as sessions for whole

teams. These sessions have evaluated well with a benefit in

coming together and sharing experiences of the pandemic and

comfort in knowing many individual thoughts and feelings were

shared by others. With opportunity for reflection it highlighted

changes to working practices and the speed at which information

and guidance was shared. Staff spoke of the strengths they

found in their teams, and people pulling together and working

across services during difficult times.

An introduction to Mindfulness has also been provided aimed at

giving a taster of the benefit this can bring and signposting

people to further resources; the general consensus was people

would like more of the same to be made available to access.

A business case has since been developed seeking Executive

Board approval suggesting the service should continue with a

preventative intervention intention as well as reactive support to

what is required. We are hopeful that this service will be

approved and it can offer consistent and longer term support to

staff and teams across the trust.

7

7

Good bye, good luck and

thank you to:

Janet O’Mahoney - Physiotherapist

Julie Brown - Staff Nurse, Out of

Hours Team who has taken up a

new role as Specialist Palliative

Care Nurse, Gateshead.

Education Department

St Benedict’s Hospice St Benedict’s Way Ryhope Sunderland SR2 0NY Tel: 0191 512 8437 Fax: 0191 4041324 Website: www.stbenedicts.co.uk/ Virtual Tour: http://www.stbenedicts.co.uk/About-Us/Virtual-Tour Education Prospectus: http://www.stbenedicts.co.uk/Education/Course-Calendar-2019-20

A warm welcome to our new staff who have

joined us / taken up a new role over the last few

months:

Chris Bray—Director of Income Generation, Fundraising Department.

Lisa Jebbett – Staff Nurse, Out of Hours Team