How I make a difference to people's lives

"As the End of Life Strategic Lead for Bristol Community Health, I’m responsible for the Palliative Care Home Support service, which has operated since 2001, caring for people at the end of their lives and supporting them to die at home, if that’s what they choose.

This World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, which takes place on October 12, is all about dispelling the myths around palliative care and raising awareness about what services, such as ours, can do support people at the end of their lives.

You know what it’s like when you meet someone for the first time, and they say ‘and what do you do?’ After years of working as a nurse, and now as a nurse manager, all the time working with people who are at the end of their lives, I do have to a few answers handy as people often don’t know how to react when you tell them you care for people who are dying.

The fact is I really enjoy my job, and have done, for my entire career. Of course it’s not easy and there may be aspects which are not so good, not to mention the sometimes heart-breaking situations you see people in. The good side is knowing that you really are making a difference to people’s lives when they need it the most. Palliative care is not just about dying, it’s about helping people have the best quality of life in the time they have left.

The difference we make could simply be providing a listening ear when they need it most or helping a patient to manage their symptoms better. Whoever the patient is we will always tailor the service to their individual needs. Palliative care is an holistic approach, providing whole person care to patients and their carers.

Now that I’m no longer a frontline nurse, but instead managing nurses in end of life care, the job is very different but still very rewarding. Okay, admittedly I now have to juggle paperwork, meetings and budgets but there are still a lot of great things about my role. Now, the good stuff centres on having the chance to shape the service and improve things not just for the individual patients but for all our patients.

To continue transforming the service, Bristol Community Health is currently piloting an End of Life Nurse Assessor service, which is a really exciting initiative, that will help us reach patients quicker when they are referred, effectively assessing their needs to establish the right care for them. We’re currently recruiting two brilliant nurses to take up these roles, as it won’t be an easy job; but it will be important. They will need their running shoes on some days, as they will have to respond to patients as soon as they are referred. The new nurses will meet patients, whether in hospital or at home when they are referred, and will ensure that the right care is in place as quickly as possible. Cutting the administrative burden and making sure that the nurses and clinicians in our Community Healthcare Teams have ‘time to care’ is one of our most important values in BCH. These new roles will enable the nurses and other clinicians in our Community Healthcare Teams to spend time caring for patients, by ensuring that care is organised as quickly as possible at this very important time of life."