Strathcarron's Hospice at Home marks 10 years

In 2014 Strathcarron launched it’s Hospice at Home initiative with support from the Big Lottery Fund for five years.

However, since that grant ended, the service has been mainly funded by the local community who bake, run, jump, as well as donating and buying form the hospice’s charity shop to keep it supporting around 400 patients and their families annually.

Regularly given top marks by the Care Inspectorate, Hospice at Home allows people to have choices in palliative and end of life care to live the best quality of life possible, enabing them to die at home if this is their wish.

There have been 3439 referrals to Hospice at Home from April 2014 to June 2024.

Mags McCarthy, Strathcarron’s chief executive, said: “Hospice at Home is a very special service, enabling people to be at home at end of life, as is their wish. As part of a wider multi-disciplinary team within the hospice, we also work closely with external primary care teams, including district nurses, to provide this specialist care.

"As a community service, we are value for money, but we need funding to keep our service running. From the small donation you drop into one of our fundraising cans, to leaving a significant legacy in your will, everything you do to support Strathcarron, ensures your Hospice at Home service keeps going. We are incredibly grateful to all our amazing supporters.

“If Hospice at Home means something to you, we also strongly encourage you to participate in the current palliative care consultation to help shape the future of community care. If you can’t attend in person, you can complete the online survey which is open until September 22.”

Strathcarron Hospice has to raise £16,637 daily to provide all the specialist end of life care services to individuals and their families across its communities.

Hospice at Home costs £474,000 per annum and saves an average of six NHS hospital bed days at around £350 a day per patient. The cost to care for a Hospice at Home patient in their own home, based on an average six days, is £1437. This costs breaks down to £239 per patient per day.

Family members were interviewed recently by the Care Inspectorate, who noted that “people are respected and listened to ensuring that their wishes and preferences were used to shape how they were to be supported”. The service was excellent at giving people time to talk and support, and to be empowered to discuss decisions about their end of life care, with one person saying "they always asked what we wanted and had time to answer our questions".

One of those who has had first hand experience of Hospice at Home is Alastair who shares the story of his wife Leigh who died in their care in 2022 aged 49 years old.

He said: “Leigh was diagnosed with cancer; a tumour in her left kidney. It then spread to her liver and lungs. She underwent chemotherapy which she said, ‘nearly killed her’ and was in bed for six weeks. She wanted to go into Strathcarron hospice for palliative care and I stayed with her there for the full three and a half weeks she was in the ward.

“It was hard to watch her deterioration, but what else could I do? I was with her every day as were most of her family. We did have to emergency call the rest of the family to come into the ward at one point, as we were told that she was dying and to ask everyone to be there to say cheerio.

“But, thankfully was up not the day she died. Leigh wanted to be at home in her final days, so Strathcarron organised this for her, so she could have her wish to be surrounded by her own home comforts.

“Strathcarron’s Hospice at Home team were nothing short of amazing. They came in to see Leigh twice a day, at 8am and 5pm. They would bathe and chat to her, and wash her hair – the things that were really important to her at the time.

“It’s just so nice to know that there are people in the community that do these things for others. I just cannot thank them enough for what they did for Leigh. For me too.

“For 12 days the team would arrive at our home and chat to us, ‘like normal’, if you know what I mean. It’s the simple things that just took the pressure off, it’s so hard to describe. But they’d just cheerily say to both of us, ‘that’s what we’re here for’.

“When it was time for her to say goodbye I was at her side and simply said, ‘t’s time to shut your eyes Leigh, just go to sleep’.

“It was our wedding anniversary in July. She would be 51 years old now. I am still grieving; it is so hard without her, but I’ll always have my memories. The hardest thing I have ever done.

“I’m forever grateful for the Strathcarron Hospice at Home teams for the time they gave me with Leigh at home. The care was just outstanding.”

Find out more about on Hospice at Home and other Strathcarron service here