Palliative carers for patients at home

TAKING CARE: A new service providing night care for palliative patients has been taken on by the DHB in partnership with Hospice Wairarapa. Mary Norman, palliative nurse (left), Marianne Harlen, healthcare support worker, Fred Wheeler, charge-nurse manager, Chris Harwood, healthcare support worker, Marilyn Pedersen, healthcare support worker, Carol Hinton, clinical nurse specialist, Cathy Coffey, clerical co-ordinator, Trudy Lamb, home-support co-ordinator, and Suzie Adamson, Hospice Wairarapa general manager. PHOTO/ LYNDA FERINGA

Palliative patients who may be in their last few weeks of life will soon be offered trained caregivers to support them at their own home throughout the night.

Fred Wheeler, charge-nurse manager for Wairarapa District Health Board's community-based services, said families who are carers for loved ones through day and night can feel exhausted.

"Carer fatigue can be a significant issue for families in the last few weeks of a patient's life," Mr Wheeler said.

"They have chosen to care for their loved one at home, or they feel they need to stay with them in an aged residential care facility to support the staff who are caring for them as well as all the other residents there.

"This is both physically and emotionally draining for the family and up to now there has been no provision for help in this area."

Hospice Wairarapa and the DHB recognise this and are setting up a night-respite care initiative, starting this month. The hospice will fund a three-month trial and the DHB will provide healthcare assistants trained in palliative care or, in some circumstances, a registered nurse.

"The healthcare assistants are part of the DHB's palliative-care team and may already care for some of these patients during the day.

"They will be with the patient throughout the night with back-up from the registered palliative care nurse on call, the GP and the ambulance service for any emergencies," Mr Wheeler said.

"It will give family and friends relief and a good night's sleep knowing that trained staff are there. It should make it easier for them to better care for their loved one during the day."

DHB nursing director Michele Halford welcomed the initiative.

"This is a really exciting opportunity to provide services in partnership with the hospice," she said.

"During the trial period over the next three months we will closely monitor how it's going, through feedback from users of the service.

"That should indicate what demand there is and how satisfied people are with the service."

Suzie Adamson, manager of Hospice Wairarapa, said they were responding to an unmet need.

"We want to financially support the development of this important service we identified with Kahukura, the DHB's palliative-health team, and look forward to offering relief to caregivers of the terminally ill," she said.

"It's also another opportunity for us to extend our support services in partnership with the Kahukura nursing team based at Hospice Wairarapa."