Tag Archive for: palliative care

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St Luke’s makes historic return to Kingsbridge

The doors have opened on St Luke’s latest shop, marking a fresh and exciting era for the charity’s presence in Kingsbridge and a community minded new identity for one of the South Hams town’s landmark buildings.

The ground floor of a distinctive Grade II listed former inn at the bottom of Fore Street has been sensitively refurbished to create an attractive and spacious store. Open seven days a week, 9.30am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sundays, the new shop is selling pre-loved clothing for women, men and children, shoes and accessories, jewellery, books and bric-a-brac, as well as smaller items of brand new flat-packed furniture, such as tables, chairs and TV stands.

St Luke’s previously ran a popular, but much smaller, outlet at the top of the town for more than 25 years but, sadly, it closed during the Covid pandemic. The new store at the bottom of Fore Street is not only much larger, it has also helped to inject fresh life into a building with a fascinating past and some lovely architectural features.

Research by St Luke’s volunteer and fundraiser Colin Pincombe has revealed that the site started life in the mid-18th century as the Blue Anchor Inn and brewhouse. The eight-bedroom hotel, which boasted a bar, butcher’s shop and stables, was popular with masters of vessels sailing between Kingsbridge, Plymouth and further afield from what was then known as Dodbrooke Quay. Builders carrying out the recent refurbishments discovered clay pipes consistent with those times.

The present three-storey stucco structure dates back to the 1860s, and its exterior was listed for preservation in 1972. The building was modernised and renamed the Quay Hotel by its new owners, Courage Brewery, in the early 1980s and it eventually closed in 2015. Now the building has had a sensitive makeover and houses St Luke’s on the ground floor, complete with original fireplace and 19th century brickwork, with residential accommodation above.

Shop manager Maureen Clarke and assistants Molly Brown, Sarah Hunt and Julie Stephens, who all live in Kingsbridge, are eager to welcome customers and receive quality donated items. Maureen is very experienced in the sector, having previously managed two other charity shops in the town, and she has great connections within the community, including the rugby club and the fantastic annual Ride for Tina event in aid of St Luke’s.

She and her team will be supported by a band of local volunteers and Maureen has already recruited a core of around seven, many of whom have worked with her in the past.

Over the past few months, other St Luke’s shops have been saving and storing items to stock the rails and shelves at Kingsbridge in its first couple of weeks.

“They have been amazing. A lot of the stock we have on display now is designer labels,” said Maureen. “If you have a good-looking shop and a good layout, then you attract good quality donations.”

In addition, she is thrilled that the people and businesses of Kingsbridge and surrounding areas are lining up to help.

“People are saying they are glad that St Luke’s is back in the town. They are happy that we have this building because they know it will provide much needed income for such a good cause. And I’m excited to educate people who don’t know exactly what St Luke’s does and how the money is spent on such important care.”

St Luke’s retail area manager Kerry Hearn said: “We are absolutely delighted to return to Kingsbridge and open a new St Luke’s shop in this wonderful historic space. The town has always supported us so generously in the past and we’re sure people will love the new premises.

“By donating your pre-loved items or shopping for bargains with us you will be supporting the crucial work of St Luke’s expert compassionate teams who are caring for people from the town and surrounding area, 365 days a year, at the most difficult and emotional of times.”

If you would like to get involved, either volunteering in the shop or assisting with fundraising in the local area please call into the shop or email volunteer@stlukes-hospice.org.uk

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Tour de Moor: We ride as one for hospice care

 

It’s bold, it’s brave, it’s big-hearted and it’s the best fun you can have on a bike while backing your local hospice. Yes, St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth’s ever-popular Tour de Moor cycle event returns on Sunday 8 October with plenty of on and off-road challenges, new and old, to thrill and delight every rider, regardless of age or ability.

Are you ready to get on your bike and join us to embrace the mud, sweat and gears of this exhilarating on and off-road experience in the wilds of beautiful Dartmoor? Feel a sense of belonging, purpose, and achievement as we ride as one to raise funds to support hospice care in our community.

Our Tour de Moor is best known as an adrenaline-packed two-wheel quest that can test the skills, fitness, and endurance of even the toughest of cyclists. But it’s so much more than that. With three distances and difficulty levels to choose from, it’s the ultimate inclusive family friendly cycling adventure. You can even join in if your bike is electric or you’re still using stabilisers, and for the first time there’s a unique challenge for school groups to discover.

Which route will you choose?

  • Beast Mode: 52km of cycling at its fiercest (12 years old and above, entry fee £35) – an enhanced route based on your feedback.
  • Adventurer Style: 33km of tough riding (9 years old and above, entry fee £35) ­– an exciting new route for 2023 based on Dartmoor National Park’s Granite and Gears Cycle Trail.
  • Mini-Moor: 11km ride along Drake’s Trail (suitable for the whole family, entry fee £15)

Your fee covers our costs to run this event, but it’s your sponsorship and generous donations that really make the difference. If everyone commits to raising a minimum of £100 you’ll be helping as a collective to provide a full package of care at home for 100 local families at their most difficult of times – and you’ll be entered into our draw to win a fantastic prize.

Sponsored by Print Copy Scan, a local supplier of printers and copiers, our Tour de Moor challenge departs from Harrowbeer Airfield (near Yelverton) on the Sunday morning and finishes there, too.

Join us as we ride as one!

Sign up today here.

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Holly Heroines – A beautiful light in everyone’s life

This year’s Midnight Walk will be a poignant one for so many. Especially for a group of women walking in memory of a special friend described as ‘a beautiful light in everyone’s life’.

Holly Hacker from Ivybridge, was diagnosed with cancer six years ago. Sadly, in January this year, at the age of 40, Holly passed away after bravely fighting for so long.

In Holly’s honour, a group of her friends decided to get a team together to take on our Midnight Walk on Friday 7 July to keep their memories of such a beautiful friend, daughter, sister and auntie alive.

Holly Heroines7 is made up of seven women including Holly’s two sisters-in-law and her close friends. The teammates are: Laura Hacker, Maggie Hacker, Tracey Keslake, Natalie Potter, Molly Joslin, Laura Reed and Kelly Thomson.

Holly’s close friend, Kelly Thomson has described the special memories they have of Holly. She said: “Holly was a kind soul, her smile could light up a room. Her brother Aaron has commented that the picture on our JustGiving page stops him in his tracks when he sees it on the news feed. That’s how I remember her…smiley.

“She was a good friend, sister, daughter. She would see her Mum every Saturday for a fry up and then go off shopping together. She had a good sense of adventure but drew the line if it involved water or heights. Although we did get her on a river cruise when visiting Scotland!

“She was very generous, caring and truly a great friend. She was always there if you needed her any time of day. She would stand her ground if needed and could be firm. She had a special look that you knew if she looked at you this way she wasn’t amused, something I saw quite often being the joker of the trio!

“She really was a beautiful light in everyone’s life.”

Having taken part in our flagship event previously Kelly and teammate Tracey jumped at the opportunity to take part. “Having done the Midnight Walk before, as soon as we knew it was happening I already knew we would be doing it. Although I was hoping Holly would still be with us to do it too.”

The walk itself, kindly sponsored this year by Michael Spiers and Marchand Petit includes three different routes of 3 miles, 6 miles, and 13.1 miles. The women, like so many others, see it as an opportunity share precious memories and make new ones.

“I think we are all looking forward to spending time with each other on the walk and sharing stories and memories”, said Kelly. “We haven’t seen each other since the funeral, so it will be good to catch up with them. The girls are all wonderful individuals, and they are all like old friends already.

“The Midnight Walk has such an amazing ambience as you know that people there are doing it in memory of someone. So the support you get from strangers is amazing. It means a lot to us to raise money for St Luke’s as they do such an amazing job. They supported Holly and made her comfortable in her last couple of weeks and they showed great compassion to her family and friends. It can’t be an easy job for them, but we are so grateful to them for caring for our beautiful friend.”

The inspiring team are currently at the top of our team’s fundraising leaderboard, having already raised a fantastic £1,195 for our patient care. If every single Midnight Walker commits to raising £100 like this fabulous seven, the event will bring in enough for our St Luke’s hospice teams to care for 100 families at home, just like Holly’s.

Kelly added: “We are so overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity so far, and I know Holly would too be so proud. She is so missed daily but her memory will go on.”

If the Holly Heroines have inspired you, then why not sign up your team today for our Midnight Walk and make Midnight miles matter. Click here to sign up.

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In memory of Christina Quinn

Christina Quinn, chief executive of St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth, has been confirmed as one of three people who died in a dive boat fire in Egypt on Sunday.

A spokesperson for her family said: “It is with great sadness that we confirm the tragic death of Christina Quinn in Egypt.  She was a sister, daughter, wife, aunty, friend, and rock to many.  She will be missed beyond words.  We would ask for privacy at this time.”

Christina, 58, took up her role as CEO at St Luke’s in May this year following a long and impactful career with the NHS, most recently as Director of NHS South West Leadership Academy.

Charles Hackett, Chair of St Luke’s Trustees, said: “Christina was incredibly passionate about St Luke’s and its place at the heart of the community it serves, and we are devastated to lose her warmth, wisdom, and leadership.

“Before her recent appointment, Christina had served for six years in a voluntary capacity as chair of St Luke’s board, working closely with the senior management team and her fellow trustees and earning their respect, trust, and appreciation.

“With her vibrant and engaging personality and her down to earth, caring nature, as CEO she was quickly building strong and meaningful relationships both inside and outside the organisation.

“We will miss Christina enormously and our hearts go out to her family and close friends at this tragic time.”

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Dying Matters Awareness Week 8 – 14 May 2023

Personal grief when you work in health and care

How we can become more compassionate around terminal illness, dying and grief in the workplace is the focus for this year’s national Dying Matters Awareness Week (8-14 May).

The devastating and often prolonged effect of losing a loved one will have been experienced by more than half of all employees during the past five years but offering the right support – in the place where many of us spend so much of our lives – is something many managers feel unconfident about, according to Hospice UK.

People often assume that those working in health and care are better equipped to cope with loss because they encounter it on a regular basis. In reality, whether you’re in a caring or support role at a hospice like St Luke’s, in a hospital or nursing home, or working as a funeral director, celebrant or spiritual leader, it doesn’t make it any easier to cope when terminal illness or bereavement comes calling in your personal life.

In fact, these extraordinary environments can present many situations that resonate deeply and make it harder for people to carry out aspects of their work, particularly in the early days of the grieving process.

Many of us will be very familiar with practical measures and advice for self-care that can be useful following bereavement, even regularly advising and supporting the loved ones and carers of people who die in our community. But, when we’re enveloped in the fog of our own heartache, it’s not so easy to listen to ourselves and recognise our own needs.

It’s comforting to know that there is always someone you can reach out to you if you are facing personal loss. In these specialist sectors of our communities we are often fortunate to be surrounded by professional, empathetic people who know exactly what to say to grieving friends and colleagues. They won’t shy away from asking how you are, listening to your worries or having difficult or painful conversations.

Sharing your feelings with colleagues is a good starting point but, depending on your organisation, your first port of call for formal support and understanding will usually be your line manager.

When you’ve lost a loved one, the last thing you need is to be under pressure to carry on working as normal. Compassionate workplaces and managers will give you permission to take time out to reflect, talk, and tap into things that can help you slowly accept your situation and begin to heal.

No two people’s grieving is the same. Each of us deals with our loss in an individual way and a good employer will be as supportive and adaptable as possible, taking into account the special circumstances we are faced with in our jobs and the need to keep services running.

Crossovers with cases you deal with professionally may inflame your personal distress. Maybe you have lost an elderly parent with the same degenerative disease as one of your patients or there’s a young person under your care who is the same age as a personal friend who has died. These are the kind of trigger points that can be avoided by accepting that someone else may need to step in to take over particular tasks for a while.

Many health and care organisations will have robust in-house policies for good practice when managing bereavement, including arranging compassionate leave and smoothing the way for your return to work when you’re ready.

Line managers can be prepared to handle personal bereavement within their teams by becoming familiar with their organisation’s bereavement and compassionate leave policies.

If you are a health care professional, you may already have established relationships with your local hospice and, like St Luke’s, they will probably be more than happy to offer you or your teams advice on how to cope with personal grief when death and bereavement are part of your job.

  • Common feelings after bereavement are anger, shock, numbness, sadness, fear, guilt and anxiety. You may also experience physical symptoms like difficulty sleeping and eating.
  • It’s OK to take time to process what has happened and look after yourself. Rest, try to sleep and eat well, get outside in the natural world and reach out for support from family, friends and colleagues.
  • It may be very difficult dealing with other people’s grief and distress while you are grieving yourself and a period of compassionate leave could be beneficial.
  • Try to retreat to a quiet place for reflection to punctuate your working day – perhaps a hospital chapel, a library or outdoors in nature.
  • Don’t be afraid to talk about the person you’ve lost and find comfort in rituals, a funeral and personal remembrances.
  • If you are worried how you are feeling, speak to your GP and consider external counselling. Services, like those provided 24 hours a day by Simplyhealth, can be invaluable – grief can often be at its darkest and most painful in the early hours when no one else is around. You may not think you need this straight away but grief can sometimes feel more difficult after the initial period of shock and realisation.

For more information on death, dying and grief in the workplace visit Hospice UK’s Dying Matters Awareness Week

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How chaplain Pat ‘happens by’ at Derriford Hospital

Jackie Butler meets a special person whose calm and comforting presence is hugely valued by St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth hospital team and those they care for.

The first thing that stands out about Pat Brenton as she walks through Derriford Hospital is her gentle, unhurried pace. All around her doctors, nurses and support staff stride purposefully to their destinations, while she strolls mindfully, always alert to anyone along the way who might welcome a kindly face and a confidential chat.

Some days she’ll leave her desk in the chaplain’s office to visit a ward and only get as far as the first bench along the corridor before being drawn to the side of a young lad worried sick about his grandma who is dying upstairs, or a woman in the throes of shock after losing her husband.

Impromptu encounters and casual arrivals underpin her approach as the hospital’s palliative and oncology chaplain, a role in which she works closely with St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth hospital team.  She likes to “happen by”, making it easier for people to welcome or reject her presence in the moment, although she does also pre-arrange some appointments.

“The less I say, the better. It’s about letting people have the space, especially St Luke’s patients,” says Pat. “They don’t necessarily always want to share their thoughts with friends or family. We just turn up and they can talk if they want or not if they don’t. I am not going to cry or be judgmental. We have that little bit of distance, which helps. Then, once they have consented to our visit, we can go back again.”

Pat, her four chaplaincy colleagues and a pool of trained and experienced volunteers are there for everyone in the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust – patients, visitors and staff. Between them they visit up to seven out of 10 patients and families who are being supported by St Luke’s nurses and doctors. They try to make sure appropriate pastoral and spiritual care is there for those that want it, backing up the hospice’s compassionate expertise and advice, and the care of Derriford’s own clinical teams.

On Tuesdays, Pat joins the St Luke’s virtual morning meeting where she’ll listen in to Clinical Nurse Specialist Julie Ayers, Nurse Consultant Martin Thomas and the rest of the clinical team as they discuss existing and newly referred patients on their long lists. Bypassing clinical, care or discharge details, as the nurses and doctors talk, Pat picks up on each patient’s potential emotional or spiritual vulnerabilities, mostly sensing which individuals she should visit. It’s a seamless collaboration, fed as much by instinct and subtle looks as words.

“I like to think that I can get there before anyone asks me,” she says. Amid discussions around each patient’s condition, their prognosis, their discharge home, or transfer to St Luke’s at Turnchapel, and their loved ones who might be struggling, Pat will occasionally chip in to say she or a colleague have already been to see a particular person and will return, or that she’ll simply “happen by” to introduce herself and listen.

“I try to follow up as many as I can during the week with help from my colleagues. We have a good rapport with St Luke’s and an excellent trust between us and I really value their generosity to share this with us.”

Each person’s circumstances are unique, from complex scenarios where people’s lives have been tipped upside down by a catalogue of illness and painful bereavement, to those who are resigned to their terminal prognosis and seeking to live out their final days as fully as possible.

When there’s an urgent referral, the St Luke’s team can call on Pat or her colleagues 24 hours a day – one of them is always on duty. “They can refer someone to us any way they want – email us, ring us up or bump into us in the corridor,” she says.

Pat, who was a nurse many years ago, was ordained as a Church of England minister 18 months ago.

“I did a course in listening with the hospital and wanted to volunteer, but they didn’t have a vacancy straight away. They said I could come and help in the office in the meantime, so I did. When I became a pastoral care volunteer, I knew this was what I wanted to do. I spent more and more time on the wards. They couldn’t get rid of me! Gradually I realised my calling was to be here as a chaplain.

“I think I saw 240 relatives in the first year before I was ordained, working with former palliative and oncology chaplain Andy Barton before taking on the role myself,” adds Pat, who also now co-teaches the department’s training course for volunteers.

Although the roots of her vocation lie in her longstanding Christian faith, she stresses that her daily work has nothing to do with religion in the conventional sense and everything to do with humanity, compassion, and discretion. Pat wears a white collar while she’s on duty but doesn’t think it gets in the way.

“We approach in a very gentle way, so people feel comfortable and are able to be themselves. They can just be real because they know we are genuine and focusing on them, not ourselves. I try especially hard when I see someone is fearful, particularly at the end of life.”

With that thought in mind, it was fascinating to silently shadow Pat as she set off on her rounds visiting three patients in different wards who’d been mentioned at the St Luke’s meeting, insisting that, like her and the rest of the team, I take no phone, camera or notebook.

While a widow with a shock terminal cancer diagnosis waited for her transport to St Luke’s at Turnchapel – where her mother died a few years ago – she was relieved to quietly share with Pat the anxiety of knowing that it would be her final journey.

In a side room with a butterfly motif on the door to honour a patient at the end of life, Pat knocked gently to introduce herself to a man and his wife as they sat either side of the bed where his elderly mother was slipping peacefully away. They clearly found comfort in the chaplain’s presence and the chance to confirm the old lady’s faith and love of hymns.

Pat’s final call was a return visit to a man with a life-limiting illness and a bad fracture who the day before appeared to give up hope. But today he was chatty and animated, buoyed up by the St Luke’s team’s belief that he could return home to live out his last months or weeks with the right help. After firmly declaring his non-belief in God, he told Pat he felt the need for something spiritual to hold on to.

Back at the team’s office, next door to the chapel, we joined the other chaplains and volunteers to reflect on the morning and talk about anything that stood out or concerned us. That kind of support and back-up is vital when you’re listening to stories that are often extremely emotional, and Pat also makes sure she and the team open their listening ears to all St Luke’s team members.

“We try to support them confidentially on an individual basis, as well as collectively,” she says. “I will make a conscious effort this week to ‘happen by’ if someone in the St Luke’s team seems upset about something or not themselves.

“They do carry a huge workload. Where do you put all that emotion? They can come and dump it here if they wish. It can sometimes be hard to share with your team when everyone is in the same boat.”

Julie and the St Luke’s team feel privileged to have such a great working relationship with the hospital chaplaincy and access to their valuable support.

“It’s so reassuring for us to know that Pat and the other chaplains are there, not only for our patients and their families, but for our team too. Pat is a really calming presence and an incredibly warm and patient listener, and she seems to know exactly the right time to ‘happen by’, as she calls it,” says Julie.

When a St Luke’s colleague died suddenly at the end of last year, Pat held a quiet period of reflection in the chapel for the team, based on what they wanted – a poem a reading, and a candle lit in memory. The St Luke’s nurses and doctors also take time out on a weekly basis to come together in the hospital chapel for reflection, lighting a purple candle in remembrance of patients who have died.

“The chapel is a lovely place where everyone can come and sit in peace,” adds Pat, whose quiet, thoughtful, and confident demeanour seems to put everyone at their ease wherever she goes.

She and her colleagues are glowing examples of how St Luke’s and Derriford are working hard together as one big team to achieve the very best holistic care for patients who find themselves in hospital as they approach the end of life.

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A trip to the shops shines a light on St Luke’s amazing volunteers

 

It’s no exaggeration to say that St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth couldn’t deliver its crucial and compassionate end of life care without the support of its army of big-hearted volunteers who give their time and talents for free. This Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) St Luke’s is saluting them all with a huge, heartfelt thank you, and new CEO Christina Quinn has been out and about meeting a few of these very special people in person.

The charity has an amazing 668 regular volunteers – 464 of them in the charity’s shops across Plymouth, West Devon, the South Hams and East Cornwall, sorting donations, steaming and hanging clothing, creating displays and serving customers.

Christina’s whistlestop tour took in three popular stores, where she got a feel for who St Luke’s retail volunteers are and why they choose to do what they do.

She says: “We get so much from the volunteers, but what is lovely is that they all said how much they get from it as well and they have real pride in supporting the vital work of St Luke’s.

“Visiting the Plymstock, Elburton and Transit Way shops it was clear how much the store managers appreciate and value their volunteers, as we all do too. None of us can do this without them.”

During her visits, Christina heard some heartening stories from individual volunteers, each with unique backgrounds and experiences but with the same aim in mind.

Barbara

A volunteer with special niche knowledge can be a real boon to St Luke’s shop managers. Barbara Daniel used to have an antiques shop on the Barbican and she would sometimes come in to St Luke’s to help value jewellery donations.

After she and her husband closed their business, Barbara began volunteering twice a week at our Plymstock shop where she’s now the resident jewellery expert. Using her keen eye, she takes a good look at items when they arrive, spotting anything that could potentially be quite valuable and doing her homework to make sure the price is right to raise as much as possible to support St Luke’s end of life care.

Barbara is delighted to use her expertise and has identified a few choice pieces that have sold for between £400 and £500.

She says: “I think most volunteers feel like it’s a social occasion to come here and meet people. It keeps the brain ticking over as you get older. I certainly missed it during the lockdown.”

Barbara also loves hunting down bargains in St Luke’s shops. When her son got married recently, both she and her daughter found their glamorous outfits for the big day in one of the charity’s stores.

They each discovered almost new dress and jacket ensembles that would originally have cost hundreds of pounds. Of course, generous Barbara donated hers straight back to St Luke’s after she’d worn it!

Julie

Volunteering for St Luke’s is especially poignant for Julie Lukehurst, a recent recruit at the Elburton shop. Hospital doctors told her that her cancer was incurable and that the best thing for her would be palliative care at St Luke’s specialist unit at Turnchapel.

“I was offered a bed but said I wouldn’t be going there because I wasn’t dying,” recalls Julie.  Four years later she is in remission, managing her illness with medication and pacing her energy through good and bad days. “I think it’s fantastic that St Luke’s is there. That’s why I want to give something back.

“I’ve always worked but couldn’t when I was unwell and I missed it. I moved to a little cottage just down the road from the Elburton shop and used to come in as a customer. One day Rachel the manager asked me if I’d like to volunteer.”

Julie is now quickly learning the ropes volunteering twice a week, sorting stock and serving customers, and she’s mastering the till, even though she’s a self-confessed technophobe.

“I get more pleasure out of being here than I do anywhere. Everyone here is so lovely and friendly and we’re all here for the same reason – to make money for care.  But it’s also a social thing. I could easily stay at home seeing nobody,” says Julie.

Darren

Darren King is a carer for his wife, so he’s unable to go into paid employment. But he loves volunteering at St Luke’s Transit Way shop, just five minutes’ walk from home so he can run back if he’s needed. Working in the shop gives him a sense of purpose and a break from being in the house all the time.

“I just love being here. This is my baby, and the people are like family to me, especially Steve, the manager. He makes work a pleasure.

“The satisfaction you get when you put something through the till and you know it’s going to such a good cause is amazing. There’s no better feeling than clearing £1,000 and knowing that will pay for someone to be cared for at home – it’s a goal we all set for ourselves. We all take pride in the store and it’s really rewarding.”

On the day Christina visited Darren was working alongside a team of fellow volunteers including regulars Mel, Pam and Sue, all supervised by manager Steve Evans. He says it takes a minimum of 10 volunteers to help run the large Transit Way clothing shop and the adjacent bric-a-brac store. There’s a constant stream of donated items being brought in by customers, many on their way to the supermarket next door, and they all need checking, sorting and pricing.

Christina was impressed and humbled by her shop visits. She says: “Every single individual makes a unique contribution towards our shared goal to provide the very best holistic care for people with terminal illness at the end of their lives and compassionate support for their loved ones.

“Barbara, Julie and Darren are all doing a fantastic job and it’s so great to know that they enjoy what they do and get satisfaction from knowing they are giving something back.”

St Luke’s is always looking for more volunteers to help in our shops for a few hours or more each week. These are the stores that are currently in urgent need of more helping hands:  Western Approach/Toys ’R’ Us, Shabby Chic on the Barbican, Sugar Mill, Drake and New George Street in the city centre, Plymstock Bookshop, Tavistock and Launceston.

If you have some time to spare and would like to get involved in a worthwhile cause working alongside like-minded people, find out more and get in touch via our volunteering page or email volunteer@stlukes-hospice.org.uk.

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Marking volunteer Margarethe’s silver service at St Luke’s

Back in 1998 Margarethe Marsh walked into her local St Luke’s charity shop and offered to help once a week. Twenty-five years on, she’s still volunteering at our Saltash branch and loving every minute of it.

This week shop manager Hayley Pollard was joined by St Luke’s head of retail Mike Picken and retail area manager John Saunders to congratulate Margarethe on her inspirational long service and present her with an engraved plaque, a certificate of recognition and flowers, as well as plenty of cake to share with her shop colleagues.

When Margarethe began volunteering, the Saltash St Luke’s shop was at the top of Fore Street, virtually next door to the opticians where she worked part time. Looking for something worthwhile to fill her time after her two daughters had grown up and left home, she popped in to ask her friend Brenda, then the shop manager, if she could lend a hand.

“And the rest is history,” laughed Margarethe, 74, whose infectious smile and ready humour light up the whole shop. “I knew Brenda socially and I had heard about St Luke’s, Dr Sheila Cassidy and the history of how it all started.

“I didn’t have any personal family reason for getting involved – I was very lucky then to have a healthy family – but it was a way for me to give something back.”

Living locally with her husband, she has been a stalwart of the volunteer team at Saltash once a week ever since, moving with the shop when it relocated to more modern and spacious premises closer to the Tamar Bridge around eight years ago.

Turning her hand to anything that needs doing, from serving customers and manning the till to sorting through donations, steaming clothes, pricing items and putting them out for sale on the shop floor, Margarethe says nothing much has changed over the years, apart from people’s attitudes to charity shops.

“They don’t have the stigma they used to,” says Margarethe. “There’s certainly nothing musty or smelly about this place and we’re very lucky with the donations and support we get here. Because St Luke’s is local, people are very generous.”

One of the aspects she enjoys most is the chance to spend time with a wide variety of people and she has a special camaraderie with her fellow volunteers and a great relationship with manager Hayley, as well as regular customers.

“It gives me friendship and a reason to be out,” adds Margarethe, whose activities have become a little restricted by a degenerative eye condition. “I can’t read, the TV is blurry and I’ve had to give away all my craft materials because I can’t see well enough any more. But there is always something useful for me to do here.”

She especially enjoys meeting the younger volunteers. “It’s lovely because you can be cheeky and fun with them. You can give them the benefit of your experience and you can learn a lot from them too.”

Find out more about volunteering with St Luke’s here.

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Reflections from CEO Steve

With my retirement as St Luke’s Chief Executive coming up on 4 May, I want to take this opportunity to say what an immense privilege it has been to serve at the helm of our hospice for the past six years.

It would be far too difficult to home in on just one or two memories that I will take with me from my time as CEO, and my years as Deputy and HR Director before that, so instead I’ll share the overriding feeling I am left with as I approach retirement.

It really has been way more than a job – it has been the most incredible journey, working alongside our amazing staff and volunteers, and I speak from my heart when I say I am very proud of what we have achieved together, always putting the best interests of our patients and their families at the centre of what we do.

I want to say a huge thank-you to everyone I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with at St Luke’s. The dedication all our staff and volunteers show to our community day in, day out is second to none, and I say this recognising that maintaining such a high calibre of service is often very challenging in the face of growing demands on our hospice team. I am so grateful to have ended my career at a place where everyone cares so much and is working towards the same, shared goal.  

The decision to step away has not been an easy one, but I am retiring at the time that feels right for me, professionally and personally, and with the assurance of knowing that St Luke’s incoming CEO, Christina Quinn, is absolutely the best pair of hands to receive the reins from me.

She will be supported by the same great group of senior management colleagues I have been fortunate enough to work alongside.

For those of you who don’t already know, until last November Christina was Chair of our charity’s Board of Trustees. She comes with not only her trademark dynamism and many years’ experience at senior level within the NHS, but also the knowledge, wisdom and insight gained from six years of leading our governing body, during which time we have weathered the pandemic and gone through transformation.

I want to thank current Chair of Trustees Charles Hackett (and former Chair Christina), and every other member of our board for their support over the years. Being a trustee is a massive responsibility and they work tirelessly to steer our charity safely towards our vision. We could not do what we do without them.

As I prepare for my retirement (I’m still getting used to that word!) and then ‘decompressing’ from the huge responsibility of running a hospice, I want to let you know that I am not thinking of this as ‘goodbye’. While I won’t be interfering in the running of St Luke’s, I’ll be following St Luke’s with interest and great affection – and you’re bound to see me pop up, getting muddy at Tour de Moor and no doubt volunteering at Midnight Walk.

In signing off this last message as St Luke’s CEO, I want to say thank you again to everyone for their support in making sure St Luke’s continues to be the safe haven our community needs for anyone diagnosed with, or affected by, life-limiting illness.

Thank you.

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Inside our holistic special task force the Patient and Family Support Service

While our nurses, healthcare assistants and doctors are the daily frontline ambassadors for St Luke’s compassionate and holistic end of life care, behind the scenes another small and highly skilled team are helping patients and their loved ones deal with the intense emotional pain and personal hardships a terminal journey can bring.

Recently renamed the Patient and Family Support Service to better reflect what the team does, this band of social workers, support workers, students and trained volunteers are multi-faceted champions, making sure those in distress are offered the help that’s right for them.

It can be overwhelming when someone learns they have a limited time to live, not just for the person themselves but for all those closest to them. At the heart of everything the team does lies the desire to make things just a little bit better for the patient and their family, amid the sadness, pressured relationships, physical constraints, mental health problems, past trauma, learning disabilities, substance abuse or financial troubles they may be facing, while also upholding their legal rights and protecting their safety.

The team’s highly experienced social workers are service manager Helen Koffi-Young, Danielle Brown, Emma Hancock and newcomer Sarah Bedaton. They are joined by social and bereavement support worker Sue Martin, children and family support worker Lisa Carter and a core of around a dozen amazing volunteers, trained in befriending and bereavement support skills. Together they are a consistent and inclusive St Luke’s presence, following people wherever their journey takes them – from hospital or home to nursing home or the hospice specialist unit.

“A terminal diagnosis makes a massive impact on the whole family and we deal with a lot of mental distress. We try to be preventative and look at people’s strengths and current support, then what support the person feels will be useful to them, what support we can give and what may be there in their network already,” explains Emma. “Recently we have observed a big impact from Covid and people getting a late diagnosis. This can impact on people’s level of emotional distress and can at times lead to crises in their mental health.

“People are not just their illnesses. The illness is something that happens to them. It’s our job to ask and really understand what matters most to that particular person and look at what their goals are, big or small. How, for example, could the day be made slightly better for them?

“We give people a voice and let them know they are heard. We let them talk about their anxieties and fears without judgment. We use active listening and empathy, helping people process their feelings about what has happened in a safe space. We use counselling skills and other therapeutic approaches, but we are not a counselling service, nor are we there to replace social services but work alongside them.

“We are involved in training and increasing awareness of safeguarding for adults and children, when there is abuse, neglect or self-neglect, and we are there as a consultancy service to support St Luke’s doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants.

“We work with social services to support people who may be subject to or at risk of abuse or neglect working to support and empower them and put them at the centre of decisions about their lives.”

At any one time the team can be dealing with as many as 150 people – patients, carers and the bereaved – building trusting relationships that can go on having a valuable impact in their most difficult days.

Sometimes it’s simple actions that make a big difference. For example, if someone has received a terminal diagnosis and doesn’t have family or friends close by, having one of the team’s befriending volunteers visit once a week for a chat, telephone regularly or take them out for coffee can help them feel they are not alone as they approach the end of life.

However, many of the situations they face are extremely complex. Even if someone’s troubles initially look straightforward, there can be a deep layer of issues beneath the surface that needs the expertise and experienced input of the team’s social workers and support workers.

For patients, the emphasis is always on understanding what is important to that person and their family. There’s an urgency to try and address matters that are causing the most anxiety, whether emotional or practical, and they work closely with other St Luke’s teams, also connecting and signposting to other agencies when it’s appropriate, such as the CAB for financial issues.

“We look at someone from the point of view of their entire life, their environment and their close relationships, and make sure they are empowered and know they have choices. We look at what can they do for themselves, physically and emotionally and try to build on their own strengths, while assessing the level of risk involved,” says Emma.

“For instance, getting themselves washed and dressed might be painful and tire someone out, but if they have a little help with the ordinary things, maybe it can free up that time and energy for something they enjoy doing.

“Sometimes a patient will have been the sole carer for someone with learning disabilities or mental health issues. Is there someone else who can look out for them? Our team have worked with many people who are looking after an adult child and worked with social services to get the support they are going to need.”

Emma, Danielle, Sarah and Helen keep an acute eye on the law and people’s human rights, especially legalities around mental health and mental capacity, elements that often come into play when deciding where someone should be cared for.

“The Mental Capacity Act is used when someone is not able to make a particular decision for themselves due to issues with their cognition,” says Helen. “It’s about upholding people’s rights while balancing their safety. If someone wants to go home, we assess if it is safe for them to do so. Is there a risk that they will fall over? Can they call for help? We always look at ways that we can try to minimise risk to enable people to have their wishes met, without being overly restrictive. For example, if someone has advanced dementia, is there someone who can support them to remain at home? We look at what we could do to get that person what they want. And if we can’t make it safe for them, we help to explore other options.”

Sustaining carers is a hugely important part of the team’s work. “It’s really important we listen to carers about their needs, provide emotional support, help them with difficult conversations around care and getting support packages from adult social care and the NHS,” adds Sarah.

The demand for bereavement support has significantly increased. When someone close has died or is going through the final stages of life, a period of bereavement support from a staff member or bereavement support volunteer can help family members with the initial stages of grief, or boost their strength to cope a little further down the line when the reality of the situation has sunk in.

“We are often working with people who are in a crisis and facing the most difficult time in their lives. We try to give continuity in bereavement support, with three initial sessions before we review their needs, and we can provide up to six where needed,” says Sarah.

Sometimes the team will need to refer the person on to an outside voluntary organisation for ongoing support, or to specialist mental health services if their distress deepens, working with partners in the community to get the right level of support for people’s individual needs.

When it’s a child or young person affected by bereavement, they will try to begin supporting them before their loved one dies, helping them to make and hold onto unique memories of that person through St Luke’s own Patches initiative. If it’s their parent, grandparent or carer that St Luke’s is looking after, they will work with their school or nursery and sometimes CAMHS NHS mental health services, to make sure there is a solid network around them and plenty of support and advice for whoever will be caring for them, especially if a child has extra needs because of a learning disability or any other additional needs.

Patient and Family Support Service may be a more fitting name for the team, but no title can adequately describe the magnitude of what they do on a daily basis, which also extends to best practice and how services are developed, teaching inside and outside St Luke’s.

Helen says: “It is a privilege that people let us into their lives and we all value the precious time they give us. I am really proud of the social workers, support workers and volunteers. They all make such a difference in the work they do and without fail are skilled, compassionate, empathic and effective advocates for the people they support.”

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