Jenny’s Story

How Supporting Hands volunteers help our Hospice at Home team

When it was established in 2017, our Supporting Hands service was designed to support patients and families who are living with progressive life-limiting illness by providing companionship and practical support. Another key aim of the service was to free up nursing time to allow our specialist nurses to focus on meeting patients’ medical needs, with volunteers complementing their care through companionship and practical support.  

Our Hospice at Home nurse, Jenny, explains how this works and why the service makes such a huge difference to her life as a nurse.  

“As palliative care nurses we know that good care is much more than looking after physical symptoms. We see every patient as a whole person and take the time to get to know them – what’s important to them, their hopes, fears and wishes, as well as their medical needs. As nurses we are specialists in supporting them clinically and emotionally. We are so lucky to have a team of volunteers who complement this care by offering our patients companionship and practical support.  

“If we spot that a patient is isolated, we can refer them to Supporting Hands and know that they will receive dedicated companionship support. This means we can spend more time seeing other patients who have new or complex medical needs, as we know that our isolated patients’ emotional needs are being supported by volunteers.  

“Having volunteers visit patients between our nursing visits is great for patients as they have more contact with the charity. This can be helpful for identifying new or changing needs that patients have. It also means that if a patient is well enough to be discharged from nurse-led care, they can still receive support from the charity.  

“As a nurse I find it invaluable to have the Supporting Hands service to refer patients to. We know that an illness doesn’t just affect the patient but those around them, too. So having volunteers who can provide companionship and also offer family carers some respite is a huge asset. All of the volunteers in the team make a huge difference with every hour they give.”