Weldmar Hospicecare

Joanna McHugh • Jul 19, 2022

Hospices up and down the country provide invaluable support to patients and their families when they need them most. At the James Tudor Foundation we support a number of hospices across the South West of England and South Wales to enable them to continue to provide this vital work.

Dorset based Weldmar Hospicecare is a fantastic example. Rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, they specialise in end of life care for adults with a life limiting illness. Their support is built around their values of care, integrity, welcoming, and adaptability, with the goal of achieving their vision:

“All people in Dorset living with a terminal illness being able to access the palliative care services they need, where they need them, and when they need them”

The area covered by the Hospice is largely rural meaning access to local services can be limited. However, the location of one’s home should not dictate the level of care available to them and at Weldmar Hospicecare the team work hard to ensure that everyone receives the support they need, delivered in a way that is most comfortable for them.

Reports show that in the UK, 81% of people receiving end of life care would prefer to die at home. In 2021, Weldmar supported 2,358 patients and families with 83% of this care being carried out in the community or in patients’ homes.

Weldmar offer a wide range of services including a well-established community nursing service working across the county, with close links to GPs, district nurses and community hospitals. The experienced team visit people at home and offer advice on how to best manage symptoms, discuss any anxieties that patients or families may have, and do all they can to make patients feel comfortable.

In 2020, Weldmar launched 'Weldmar Connect', a pioneering interactive telehealth app which enables patients to record how they are feeling on a daily basis and provides them with guidance for the management of symptoms when required. All information inputted by patients is available instantly for community nurses and helpline responders so that all parties involved in a patient’s care have all the information they need to provide the best possible care at all times.

‘Weldmar at Home’ is the latest addition to their range of services and it launched in May 2021. It provides individualised care for each patient to help them remain comfortable at home in their final days receiving the same level of care as they would in a hospital or hospice in-patient unit. This specialised team also provides emotional and practical support to carers, families, and loved ones.

As a patient or a loved one in the care of Weldmar Hospicecare, help and advice are available 24/7 via their Advice Line. The dedicated helpline number is provided to all patients in their information pack and is also displayed in the Connect app. An experienced community nurse or nurse specialist is always on hand to provide guidance and support. Nurses can reassure family members who are doing their best to manage their loved ones’ symptoms and are often anxious to make sure they are doing the right thing. Wherever necessary, community nurses can contact duty district nurses to visit the patient to provide immediate care or can arrange for a nurse to visit the following day. District nurses themselves use the helpline to seek advice about medications at times when they are unable to contact GPs. In turn, GPs can contact the service to seek assurance from palliative care experts that they are giving patients the correct advice to manage their symptoms effectively.

In 2019, The James Tudor Foundation committed to providing £10,000 to the hospice over two years towards the development of the helpline which now receives more than 1,000 calls each year. Feedback about the service has been incredibly positive with patients calling it a "godsend" and family members saying that "it made all the difference in the world".

Building on the success of the current provision, Weldmar are now looking to recruit a dedicated Band 5 nurse to work specifically on the helpline. This newly established role will also train community nurses and in-patient unit staff who answer helpline calls in the evenings, overnight, and at weekends which will prevent delays in response times.

We are delighted to have been able to help the creation of such an important new service that has added to Weldmar’s already impressive package of support. We appreciate just how crucial it is for the whole family to be able to access help whenever it is needed. Family members caring for their loved ones at home are rarely medically trained and will often lack even the most basic nursing knowledge and skills. To know that they can reach out to someone who will caringly show them the way is priceless.

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