Leeds hospices' 40th anniversaries: We look at the changing face of care

This week - to mark the 40th anniversaries of St Gemma's and Wheatfields hospices in Leeds - we're running a series of features looking at the impact they have made on the city. Today Joanna Wardill looks at how things have changed in terms of care over the past four decades
Kerry Jackson, chief exectutive at St Gemma's Hospice. Picture Tony Johnson.Kerry Jackson, chief exectutive at St Gemma's Hospice. Picture Tony Johnson.
Kerry Jackson, chief exectutive at St Gemma's Hospice. Picture Tony Johnson.

WHILE much may have changed at St Gemma’s and Wheatfields hospices over the past 40 years, the ethos for both has remained the same in all that time - to keep patients and families’ needs at the heart of everything they do.

Both have grown from small in-patient units, with some out-patient services and community work to large organisations incorporating a wide variety of expertise - from social work to dietitians - as well as offering intensive support at home, seven days a week.

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Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Grove Rd, Leeds. Pictured Melaine Walton, and Karen Jones, receptionist.Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Grove Rd, Leeds. Pictured Melaine Walton, and Karen Jones, receptionist.
Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Grove Rd, Leeds. Pictured Melaine Walton, and Karen Jones, receptionist.

But Kerry Jackson, chief executive of St Gemma’s Hospice, stressed: “The focus hasn’t changed much at all over the 40 years. What patients and families need has always been the driving force behind what we do. It is that central core vision that has provided such great care over all these years.”

The scale of that care has changed, however - with increasing numbers of patients being supported by the hospices each year, through an ever-expanding range of services.

Both hospices opened with just nine beds but today Wheatfields has 18 and St Gemma’s 32.

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While ten years ago St Gemma’s community nurses were making around 3,000 visits a year, last year its community team made almost 6,000 visits, with Wheatfields providing over 5,300 visits.

Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Grove Rd, Leeds. Pictured Melaine Walton, and Karen Jones, receptionist.Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Grove Rd, Leeds. Pictured Melaine Walton, and Karen Jones, receptionist.
Sue Ryder Wheatfields Hospice, Grove Rd, Leeds. Pictured Melaine Walton, and Karen Jones, receptionist.

And in January of this year, St Gemma’s had more new referrals than ever in its history.

Ms Jackson told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “The volume of people requiring our care has gone up significantly over the years.”

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She added: “We are caring for people with much more complex needs than we were 40 years ago. The population is generally an older population, who have more complex conditions, so our care has become more complex.”

Some hospice nurses now have specialities such as in mouth care or pressure sores, to help cope with these complexities, and many are also now ‘non-medical prescribers’ - able to prescribe medication changes without the need for a GP. Historically, the hospices were primarily associated with cancer care but now care for patients with dementia, heart failure, respiratory diseases and neurological disorders such as motor neurone disease.

These days many patients are also admitted just for help with pain relief before being discharged - unlike the early days when patients were rarely discharged and sometimes stayed years.

Sue Waddington, head of clinical services at Wheatfields hospice, said: “Patients were not expected to leave the hospice once admitted - it was a place to come and die. Things have changed immensely since those early days.”

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She said the average length of stay at Wheatfields Hospice is now around eight days.

The sheer volume of therapies and services offered to patients in Leeds has grown significantly at the hospices, which both began with primarily just nursing and medical care.

Now their ‘multidisciplinary’ teams include physiotherapists, family support services, day therapy, occupational therapists, dietitians, social workers and consultants in palliative medicine and St Gemma’s also runs a city-wide bereavement support service for children.

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Ms Jackson said: “These services have grown and changed. We’re making sure we’re always looking at the patient from every angle, so holistic care. Not just managing a patients’ pain level and symptoms but also about what does that person need as an individual. [However] that approach hasn’t changed.”

Another significant development at St Gemma’s is the creation of its academic unit. In June last year, the hospice became the first university teaching hospice in the UK, after linking up with the University of Leeds.

It allows for students to study palliative care in practice at St Gemma’s and the ability to incorporate the latest research and developments into staff and student training.

Ms Jackson said: “There isn’t nearly enough research into palliative and end of life care, so we established our academic unit in partnership with the university. It’s about education and also research - and how that can have an impact rapidly. This is not test-tube research but practical research that will make a difference to patients.”

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