Sue's story
25 Year Anniversary Stories
“Rotherham Hospice opened at a very interesting time.” Sue tells me, as she explains the complexity of starting the Hospice In-Patient Unit as a brand new service.
Sue had been a GP for 18 years when she arrived at Rotherham Hospice. She had trained for a week at St Luke’s Hospice in Sheffield, and a new Hospice in Rotherham immediately took her interest. She then worked for a Masters degree in Palliative Care at Sheffield University.
“Hospices started as nursing homes for terminally ill people, but by the time the Rotherham Hospice was opening they were moving more towards Specialist Palliative Care. From near the beginning, around half the patients admitted went home again. People still came for terminal care, but they also came for specialist treatment, as well as respite care.”
“There were a lot of things to sort out in those early days. Nurses would visit other Hospices to see how they did things.” Decisions made at that time around care, support, and services would be the basis for the Hospice as we know it today.
For the Hospice to develop, lots of conversations with local organisations and recruitment of new members to the team were needed. We developed the Specialist Palliative Care Multi-Disciplinary Team, which could provide a more comprehensive and coordinated service for patients than was possible at the hospital. We also took a lead with commissioning, setting priorities for the use of new funding, and using our knowledge of national standards. This was invaluable to the development of Palliative Care in Rotherham. Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) orders were discussed and devised.
“As the Hospice staff, with the hospital and community Macmillan nurses, offered specialist palliative care in Rotherham, we knew what additional services were needed, such as a palliative care drug formulary, more home care, a lymphedema service, a 24-hour advice line, and complementary therapies.” Sue says as she speaks about the very beginnings of the services that run like clockwork to this day.
Later down the line, services like Hospice at Home developed, through a combination of help from MacMillan nurses and the Hospice. An additional Macmillan nurse visiting nursing homes provided more palliative care support. Two decades later, Hospice at Home made over 1000 visits to patients and families in their homes in 2019 alone.
During the years Sue spent at the Hospice a lot took place. From the arrival of Honey – Matron’s PET, or Pets As Therapy dog – who wandered the Hospice making friends with patients and families, to arranging weddings, to winning a TV garden landscaping show that came to Rotherham and redeveloped the Hospice gardens, to a visit from the Duchess of Gloucester for the official opening.
As for the feel of the building itself, Sue remembers that the ethos in those early days was always “a home from home”. For this, Sue tells us that volunteers became the driving force behind that homely feel, ensuring patients and their families were comfortable and had teas and coffees when needed, chatting and laughing with patients every day. To this day, volunteers remain indispensable to the Hospice, providing that same friendly approach and so much more across all of our services.
So much has changed since the late 1990s, but what remains the same is the commitment of our wonderful staff and volunteers to delivering exceptional palliative care services for the people in and around Rotherham, and providing that homely feel the moment you walk through our doors on Broom Road.
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