HospiceCare North Northumberland accepting referrals again for home nursing service

The decision follows a review of its services, together with the recent appointment of additional bank nurses and support workers to its care team which has improved capacity.

Mike Thornicroft, chief executive, said: “The review process has allowed us, post-pandemic, to have dedicated time to review our policies and business strategy to ensure that we can not only continue to meet the growing demand for our clinical services, but also have the capacity for future growth and development to meet the changing needs of our local communities.

“During the review we continued to support our community by providing care to patients with palliative conditions who have been fast-track discharged from hospital. We also appointed additional members to our board of trustees. Each trustee brings a range of skills and experience that will ensure effective governance.

“We have also invested in our income generation teams to ensure that we have the capacity to develop additional long-term sustainable income streams, thus ensuring that the Hospice is not just here today, but for future generations.

"Our Hospice at Home services remain free at the point of need and will once again be available 365 days a year, day or night. We are asking that referrals into this service continue to be made via the GP, district nurse, Macmillan nurses or another healthcare professional.”

He also revealed that the last 12 months had seen its bereavement support and dementia support services experience a period of growth and development.

"We are now able to offer regular bereavement drop-in cafés and dementia drop-in cafes at our wellbeing centres in Alnwick and Berwick,” he revealed. “In addition, we continue to deliver our one-to-one bereavement support service, dementia walking football sessions and, unlike our Hospice at Home, these can be accessed via self-referral.”

He added: “We want to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and continued support. As a community-based charity, we simply wouldn’t exist without you – it’s a very special community partnership and one that is highly valued.

“We know from the regular feedback we receive from the families we have supported that together our partnership is making a real difference every day.”