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Men's Day Out
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PR: A men’s day of epic proportions

More than 1,000 men descended on the streets of Plymouth on Saturday as they embarked on a lad’s day out like no other.

The city’s annual Men’s Day Out, in aid of St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, proved to be a day of epic proportions.

The mass gathering of men took on the 12km route around the city, some adorned in fancy dress, to a flurry of cheers and chants, finishing at the rugby ground for a well-deserved pasty, pint and an afternoon of watching Plymouth Albion take on Newcastle-based Blaydon, rounding off the day with a 45-0 win.

This was the first year that the event was a complete sell-out, with hundreds of men from across Plymouth, Tavistock, the South Hams and Cornwall taking part.

Mark Slate who works for Plymouth based Bruton Knowles said : “This is my third time taking part. I lost my wife to cancer a couple of years ago and the hospice looked after her. St Luke’s is a great local charity that I am keen to support. This is my way of showing appreciation for the care and support they provided.

Neil from Plymstock said “I don’t think there is anybody here today that doesn’t know someone who has received the amazing care from St Luke’s. I’m a healthcare professional and the work they do is absolutely fantastic. The men have come out in force today to raise lots of money and show our appreciation”.

Andy Shaw from Crownhill said “Everybody wins, St Luke’s promote their cause and raises a serious amount of money to ensure people get the care they need, the pubs win, Albion win and everyone has a great day out”.

The event is estimated to raise in the region of £50,000 for the charity, who provide end of life care to patients in the local community, whether at home, in hospital or at their specialist unit at Turnchapel.

Senior events fundraiser at St Luke’s, Marian Kennedy, said, “The whole day was an overwhelming success. It was fantastic to see so many of you walking in support of St Luke’s. We would like to say a massive thank you to IU Energy who sponsored the event, all 80 of our amazing volunteers on the day, Albion Rugby Football Club and the following organisations for their support; Friary Mill Bakery, Morrisons, Tolchards, Devon and Cornwall 4×4 Response Team, Rapid Relief Team, The Roundabout, The Victualling Office and Pilgrim Pasties.

“Thank you to each and every one of you who took part in the day, it is your donations that really make a difference. Every penny raised will go towards the £19,060 it costs to run our services every day, providing care and support to people in your community with a life-limiting illness.”

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PR: Ambitious local initiative unites St Luke’s, Livewell Southwest and Marie Curie Nurses

Care for people at the end of their lives is moving into a new era as St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, Livewell Southwest and Marie Curie unite in partnership in piloting a new model for co-ordinating and delivering care to people living within Plymouth and West Devon.

Under this new partnership arrangement, existing services run by the different organisations will be brought together. This will mean anyone needing end of life care, and their families will now have one central point of contact to coordinate their care.

As a patient’s condition changes, this new pilot will provide a seamless transition between all three care providers ensuring the best care possible to patients and their families, at a time when they are at their most vulnerable.

Under this new partnership a team of nurses and admin staff from the three organisations will be based at the St Luke’s site in Crownhill.

George Lillie, Clinical Director and Deputy CEO at St Luke’s explained, “This is a huge step forward for care in our area and, for us, part of the ambitious plans the Government has to ensure end of life care is co-ordinated and partnership working is maximised as a way to meet the increasing demands of delivering care within local communities.”

“When someone is at end of life it can be a very anxious and worrying time for both the patient and their family. This pilot will remove the frustration and time involved for a patient having to speak to multiple care providers and ensure the care package is accommodated quickly. Working as one, will mean all three providers will have shared knowledge of the patient and be able to react as soon as the patient is referred to them for care.”

Michelle Thomas, Director of Operations from Livewell Southwest said, “Developing coordinated ways of working with key partners and stakeholders that puts people at the centre of their care and support is a priority for Livewell Southwest. This is a really exciting initiative and one we are delighted to be a part of. The new partnership working will ensure that people and their families receive the very best care and support possible at a time when they really need it.”

Karen Burfitt, Regional Manager from Marie Curie said, “This partnership will help hugely in simplifying how patients and their families get the care and support they need. It will help to ease some of the strain a family will experience when a loved one is terminally ill, and allow them to make the most of the time they have together.”

The pilot will be evaluated later this summer. If it has been proven to be successful, the partners will make recommendations to the commissioners to make this a permanent arrangement where the full-scale management of all end of life care services locally is transferred to shared control. This will be done on a not-for-profit basis as part of the partnership’s joint commitment to the Government’s “Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care” framework for improving end of life care.

Access to the service will be facilitated via GP or healthcare professional referral.

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PR: St Luke’s encourages local community to come together in remembering loved ones this April

Hundreds of glowing jars are set to light up Plymouth Sound in April, as part of St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth’s beautiful Memory Jar display.

The much loved local charity is giving those that have lost someone, the opportunity to own a glass memory jar and write their own handwritten message to a loved one, to go inside. The memory jar will then join hundreds of others to create an enchanting display of shared memories, bringing members of the community together in remembrance.

From 9 April for three weeks, the display will be on show for everyone to view in the garden on Plymouth Hoe, next to Valenti’s café. By day this beautiful garden will give the local community the chance to admire these memories and pay their respects to those no longer with us. By night the jars will illuminate with their individual solar lights to shine brightly over Plymouth Sound.

Events fundraiser at St Luke’s Rebecca Kelly, said “Our Memory Jar appeal is open to all, not just people cared for by St Luke’s. It gives you the opportunity to remember your loved ones in a special and unique way. We understand how important it is to be able to remember your loved ones; memories are precious and are what keep us in touch. We would encourage supporters to collect their memory jar at the end of the display, keep it somewhere special and add memories along the way for years to come; creating a special tribute and something to cherish forever.”

All donations received for each jar will go towards the £4 million the charity needs to raise every year, caring for over 3400 patients and their families in the local community; at home, at hospital and at their specialist unit at Turnchapel.

The display officially opens on Sunday 9 April with a special remembrance launch event at 3pm, featuring a selection of readings and poems.

For more information visit: www.stlukes-hospice.org.uk/memoryjar

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PR: Top 3% inspection rating from government regulator

The incredible staff at St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth are bursting with pride this week as the government’s care regulator rated the service they give as outstanding, an accolade currently given to less than 3% of the organisations they inspect.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) looked at the work of St Luke’s for a week earlier this year, visiting both its specialist unit at Turnchapel and the team of nursing and social care staff coordinating people’s care at home. Across the board the hospice team offered, “outstanding end of life care which enabled people to experience a comfortable, dignified and pain-free death,” says the report.

It’s the little differences, believes the hospice team, that take the care to the next level; such as the report’s mention of the attention paid to “people’s individual social and psychological needs.” This includes supporting families with children with a play area and “ways to engage with young children such as providing a paddling pool.”
Stuart Elford, Chairman of the St Luke’s Board of Trustees said, “This is an important and well-deserved recognition for the staff and volunteers who make St Luke’s the special place it is by working tirelessly with devotion and dedication to excellent standards of care. The ‘outstanding’ accolade will be no surprise to the patients of St Luke’s or their families who consistently comment on the high quality of the service provided. On behalf of the board I offer our sincere and heartfelt thanks and congratulations to the whole team for all their efforts which have resulted in being awarded this outstanding rating.”

In a ringing endorsement of the hard-working local charity, people and relatives that spoke to the inspector said the, “staff approach was exceptionally kind and compassionate,” leaving the CQC to conclude “people were at the heart of the service” and “all aspects of their medical, emotional and spiritual needs were personalised.”
The CQC expert also picked up on the charity’s ethos of community saying the service did “excellent work” on continually looking at what local people needed, such as the innovative Crisis Team to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.

And to make this whole idea of people-centred care work the staff are “exceptionally well-trained and had excellent knowledge of each person”, allowing them to go, “that extra mile to ensure people’s needs were met in a holistic way, including support for people’s loved ones.”

A CQC report is filed based on evidence collected by an expert to reach judgements about whether caring services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. Conclusions are then considered by an independent panel before publication. The full version of the latest St Luke’s 2016 inspection outcomes will be available on the CQC website shortly.

According to the regulator’s own data, 994 healthcare providers were rated in the last month (as of 19 October 2016). Of these 28 (or 2.8%) rated as outstanding. Overall, just 0.7% of all organisations matched or exceeded the St Luke’s report by receiving outstanding ratings in four areas or above.

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PR: St Luke’s crisis care for people at the end of their lives expanded to East Cornwall

People in East Cornwall can now access a new 24-hour specialist nursing service as St Luke’s extends the work of its Crisis Team to help people in and around Looe, Liskeard, Saltash, Callington, Torpoint and Launceston from 15 August 2016.

The innovative pilot initiative from the local hospice charity provides terminally ill patients a 72 hour window of specialist care at home to stabilise symptoms, avoid any unnecessary admission to hospital or facilitate rapid discharge from hospital or hospice back home.

The team will work in close partnership with other community health and social care providers in East Cornwall to enhance end of life care services and offer solutions to crisis situations where a patient does not have care arrangements in place. For example, if they need to quickly return home from hospital and their family needs help to look after them.

George Lillie, Clinical Director of St Luke’s explained, “This is an important pilot project that we envisage will lead to a closer working relationship with Cornwall Hospice and other community providers that will see investment and development of services in end of life care within Cornwall. GPs, district nurses and other healthcare staff can now easily refer their patients to our team and we look forward to providing crucial care to families in times of crisis.”

The service already runs in and around the Plymouth area and has helped get people home who don’t need to be in hospital and supported hundreds of families to respect their loved ones wishes to die at home.

Dawn Tame-Battell, Director of Patient Services for Cornwall Hospice Care said, “We welcome this development and will work closely with St Luke’s. We’re monitoring the pilot project with interest and hope that we could discuss our involvement in the development of similar services across the whole county in the future. All our hospice services continue to operate in Cornwall and patients can still choose to be cared for by us if they wish.”

St Luke’s is a charity organisationand receives no funding for crisis interventions, relying instead on the generosity of the community to be able to offer this kind of vital support. In 2015, the hospice needed to raise an additional £4 million to supplement the money it receives from the NHS to provide its services, including admissions to its specialist unit and end of life care at Derriford Hospital, for people in the East Cornwall area.

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