The Myton Hospices adapt their services in response to Covid-19
04 June 2020
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The Myton Hospices adapt their services in response to Covid-19
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Doctors and nurses at The Myton Hospices have changed the way they work in response to the global pandemic, but their primary focus remains to provide care and support to terminally ill patients and their families, in their inpatient beds and in the community.
The charity has enhanced its Myton at Home service in Rugby and South Warwickshire to support rapid discharge of all patients identified as being in the last days or weeks of life whose preferred place of death is at home. The service now includes a registered nurse, and the team care for people in their own homes between 8am - 8pm, seven days a week.
The Inpatient Unit at Warwick Myton Hospice has been temporarily handed over to South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) until September due to a reduction in Myton’s staffing levels because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Rather than the unit standing empty, Myton wanted to support SWFT by offering it to them temporarily to aid with their response to the pandemic.
Myton staff have been transferred to Coventry Myton Hospice to maximise the number of inpatient beds in operation there whilst ensuring the safety of staff, volunteers, patients and families. There are 20 beds available for people across the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire, and admissions have been extended to 7 days a week, 8am - 8pm.
Staff and visitors wearing PPE is the ‘new normal’, most of which has kindly been donated by local businesses and individuals, and visitors are restricted to two per patient between 2pm and 7pm, to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
91-year-old Jean Williams was admitted to Coventry Myton Hospice on 18th March, towards the start of the pandemic, and is still being cared for there. Jean has terminal cancer and was referred by her palliative nurse for 5-10 days initially. Her husband of 68 years, Sid, died three years ago and her son Clive lives in Canada with his wife Gillian and family. They talk to Jean twice daily on the phone and are kept updated by Myton’s doctors and nurses.
Jean describes feeling safer at the hospice than at home and talks of “… never having met such wonderful, compassionate people in all her life.” She says the staff are “So wonderful, kind, caring, attentive and very professional. Not one person could be nicer from the doctors to the cleaners and everyone in between.”
John Adams, a 71-year-old patient who was admitted to Coventry Myton Hospice with Covid-19, was cheered on by Myton staff when he was discharged home free of the virus. John has advanced bone and prostate cancer, and was admitted to the hospice from University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire for pain management. He spent just over two weeks being cared for at Myton before going home. “I can’t thank the hospice enough for the care I received” he said.
Ruth Freeman, CEO for The Myton Hospices, reflected on the roles of the staff: “In these unprecedented and challenging times, as experts in palliative care and a much-relied on local charity, our front line staff continue to play a vital role in supporting the people of Coventry and Warwickshire and our NHS and healthcare colleagues. I would like to say a massive thank you to all of them. I am so proud and hearing feedback like this from patients highlights just how incredible they are. Despite being in the midst of a global pandemic their dedication hasn’t wavered and they have pulled together more than ever to look after our patients, families and each other.”
“As we enter a ‘new-normal’ our focus will continue to be providing the best palliative and end of life care, whilst working to ensure that services across all sites are sustainable for the future. This year we need to raise £9.2 million to continue to provide our services free of charge and our ability to do this has been seriously impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak, with approximately 80 per cent of our income affected. We have had to call on our local community and have been overwhelmed by their support. I want to thank everyone who has donated money, PPE, food, gifts, and sent in messages of encouragement for staff – we couldn’t do it without you.”
