New service to improve end-of-life experiences for even more patients

Exciting developments at Rennie Grove will see new opportunities open up in the coming months for nurses and carers to join the charity to improve the end-of-life experiences for even more local people.

Nationally recognised as a leading provider of hospice at home care, we offer a specialist nursing service giving local people with life-limiting illness the choice to be cared for at home for 35 years.

Building on this experience and following a successful pilot project, we have now been awarded a prestigious contract to provide a fast-track care service in north west Herts that enables more end-of-life patients to remain at home.

The Rapid Personalised Care Service (RPCS) aims to offer practical care to support people to stay at home or be discharged from hospital to spend their final weeks and days at home. Delivery of such a service – vital to the local community and fully-funded by the NHS – will require a large team of carers, says Judith Moore, Head of Nursing and Patient Services in Herts.

“Being able to offer practical personal care to patients so that they are able spend their final weeks at home is really important,” she said. “We know from the pilot scheme how highly our clients and their families value the care given. That alone makes these new roles extremely rewarding.”

The service makes it quicker and easier for healthcare professionals to refer patients who need rapid access to care and provides support seven days a week for people with advanced care needs living at home. One of the benefits is that it relieves pressure on local hospitals.

Rennie Grove and hospice partners Peace Hospice Care and the Hospice of St Francis begin the new contract on 1 July.

The increasing demand for the services Rennie Grove provides has also highlighted the need for a further range of positions to bolster its Professional Development Team.

“We are looking to create a team of skilled, experienced and knowledgeable educators who will work together to design and deliver a high standard of evidence based training and education for our clinical and non-clinical staff and for others working in palliative care,” said Sophie Ebeling, Head of Professional Development and Quality Assurance.

“It is one of our strategic objectives to ensure that patients receive the very best quality care wherever they are so we are also committed to reaching out to care homes to offer training to support their staff dealing with patients as they near the end of life.’

All forthcoming vacancies will be advertised ​here and are an exciting step forward for the charity, looking to the future and building on its successes to date.

“We know that every single one of these new positions will make a real difference in the local community,” said Samantha Howard, Director of Nursing and Patient Services. “We are delighted that through innovation and expansion we will be able to offer these opportunities to nurses and carers and it is particularly fitting that we can recognise the value of the contribution that they make in 2020 … The Year of the Nurse and Midwife.”