St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 1
Annual Review 2018 | 19
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 1
Welcome to our year. A chance for everyone involved with the Hospice to look back and celebrate our achievements.
Our Mission St Columba’s Hospice strives to ensure everyone within our community has access to excellent palliative care whoever they are, wherever they are and whenever they need it.
Contents 01 Welcome 03 Chairman's welcome 04 The things that make us 'us' 08 Caring for people 09 Ian's story 10 Our hospice care in numbers 13 Joining the dots 14 Generating and sharing new knowledge and skills 16 Generating income 20 Looking forward
This year we've been looking at how we can better communicate who we are and what we do. Part of this exercise involved asking our service users, our staff and our volunteers to share their personal experiences with us – and we weren't short of responses! Throughout this annual review you'll find some of the quotes we received, written in their own words, and illustrated to reflect the way we've changed peoples lives with the services and care we offer.
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 1
Welcome to our year. A chance for everyone involved with the Hospice to look back and celebrate our achievements.
Our Mission St Columba’s Hospice strives to ensure everyone within our community has access to excellent palliative care whoever they are, wherever they are and whenever they need it.
Contents 01 Welcome 03 Chairman's welcome 04 The things that make us 'us' 08 Caring for people 09 Ian's story 10 Our hospice care in numbers 13 Joining the dots 14 Generating and sharing new knowledge and skills 16 Generating income 20 Looking forward
This year we've been looking at how we can better communicate who we are and what we do. Part of this exercise involved asking our service users, our staff and our volunteers to share their personal experiences with us – and we weren't short of responses! Throughout this annual review you'll find some of the quotes we received, written in their own words, and illustrated to reflect the way we've changed peoples lives with the services and care we offer.
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“It takes a special kind of person to work in palliative care and the people here are that special kind of person..”
Chairman’s welcome
Maria Kempf, patient
Norval Bryson, Chairman of the Board. The entrance to the hospice. A volunteer tending to the Tribute Garden, an installation in our courtyard made up of 500 handmade ceramic forget-me-not flowers.
Last year, we made a difference to the lives of over 1100 people with the money that you helped us raise. We offered space for people to talk, space for people to laugh, space for people to reflect, space for people to learn and space for people to grieve. We offered expert advice, influenced change and supported people to live life as fully as possible. We abseiled from the Forth Road Bridge, cycled to Iona, trekked to the Arctic, and held too many bake sales to count. We cared for more people than ever in their own homes, we carried out ground-breaking research, but most importantly, we did our best to be there when people needed us most; we made space for what matters.
engagements with our supporters, taking advantage of multi-channel communications and making greater use of digital technologies to increase our reach. We’re proud to say with confidence that for every £1 spent, 82p goes directly towards helping the individuals and families that need us and 18p helps raise the next £1. But with transparency and trust being more crucial than ever, we know that we have to do more. Rather than asking you to take our word for it, we will work hard to show you how your money will be spent and, perhaps most importantly, demonstrate clearly the impact of that spend on our service and service users.
All this in what has been a challenging time for the non-profit sector. We’ve seen internationally recognised charities scrutinised in the media, concerns raised over the way personal data is used and faced uncertainty over the future of fundraising and health and social care in light of ongoing Brexit negotiations. As a consequence, the trust which underpinned relationships between the public and non-profit organisations has been tested and it’s our responsibility to address this collectively as a sector. In addition, nurse shortages have been highly publicised throughout the UK putting pressure on health services to consider new ways of attracting and retaining quality staff to meet rising demand.
One of our patients, said: “It takes a special kind of person to work in palliative care and the people here are that special kind of person.” We hope this sentiment is echoed in our annual review and that you can see just how special our services are both to the people who use them and to our supporters and local community. We're excited about what lies ahead and hope you will share our pride over the achievements and progress of the past 12 months. We would like to say a huge thank you to our volunteers, supporters, partners and staff as none of this would have been possible without your help.
St Columba’s Hospice is in a strong position. We have a robust strategy and a skilled and committed team of people to help us rise to these challenges. Over the coming months our focus will be on further tailoring our services to meet the needs of those we care for, creating even more meaningful relationships and
Norval Bryson Chairman of the Board
We look forward to the difference we will make together in the coming year. Best wishes,
2 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 3
“It takes a special kind of person to work in palliative care and the people here are that special kind of person..”
Chairman’s welcome
Maria Kempf, patient
Norval Bryson, Chairman of the Board. The entrance to the hospice. A volunteer tending to the Tribute Garden, an installation in our courtyard made up of 500 handmade ceramic forget-me-not flowers.
Last year, we made a difference to the lives of over 1100 people with the money that you helped us raise. We offered space for people to talk, space for people to laugh, space for people to reflect, space for people to learn and space for people to grieve. We offered expert advice, influenced change and supported people to live life as fully as possible. We abseiled from the Forth Road Bridge, cycled to Iona, trekked to the Arctic, and held too many bake sales to count. We cared for more people than ever in their own homes, we carried out ground-breaking research, but most importantly, we did our best to be there when people needed us most; we made space for what matters.
engagements with our supporters, taking advantage of multi-channel communications and making greater use of digital technologies to increase our reach. We’re proud to say with confidence that for every £1 spent, 82p goes directly towards helping the individuals and families that need us and 18p helps raise the next £1. But with transparency and trust being more crucial than ever, we know that we have to do more. Rather than asking you to take our word for it, we will work hard to show you how your money will be spent and, perhaps most importantly, demonstrate clearly the impact of that spend on our service and service users.
All this in what has been a challenging time for the non-profit sector. We’ve seen internationally recognised charities scrutinised in the media, concerns raised over the way personal data is used and faced uncertainty over the future of fundraising and health and social care in light of ongoing Brexit negotiations. As a consequence, the trust which underpinned relationships between the public and non-profit organisations has been tested and it’s our responsibility to address this collectively as a sector. In addition, nurse shortages have been highly publicised throughout the UK putting pressure on health services to consider new ways of attracting and retaining quality staff to meet rising demand.
One of our patients, said: “It takes a special kind of person to work in palliative care and the people here are that special kind of person.” We hope this sentiment is echoed in our annual review and that you can see just how special our services are both to the people who use them and to our supporters and local community. We're excited about what lies ahead and hope you will share our pride over the achievements and progress of the past 12 months. We would like to say a huge thank you to our volunteers, supporters, partners and staff as none of this would have been possible without your help.
St Columba’s Hospice is in a strong position. We have a robust strategy and a skilled and committed team of people to help us rise to these challenges. Over the coming months our focus will be on further tailoring our services to meet the needs of those we care for, creating even more meaningful relationships and
Norval Bryson Chairman of the Board
We look forward to the difference we will make together in the coming year. Best wishes,
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“It’s all of the little extras that make the Hospice so special … I have nothing but admiration for the team of staff and volunteers.”
The things that make us 'us'
Pamela Curran, patient
clinical support on the wards, complementary therapy and helping out in the Iona Café and our shops. We believe in the importance of the arts in hospice care and have appointed an Arts Lead. Within the first year, we’ve collaborated with a number of local artists on performances and projects and introduced a number of music and art initiatives to establish the Hospice as a place where people can be creative, find meaning and live to their full potential.
Our workforce St Columba’s Hospice has a diverse and committed workforce made up of over 225 staff and over 630 volunteers. Each and every person plays a vital role in delivering support to individuals and families when it’s needed most. We care for everyone who needs and wants our help. That means we don’t just care for people diagnosed with a terminal illness from different religious and cultural backgrounds, we also care for their families, friends and communities. Throughout 2018/19 our highlights included: The creation of a brand new Family Support Team. We recruited a Family Support Worker who will help develop the service and provide one-to-one and group support for children and young people. As part of this service development we’ve also opened a bright and colourful counselling space especially for kids. Our team welcomed 112 new volunteers over the course of the year who are involved in all aspects of our service including research projects,
In response to feedback from patients, staff and volunteers, we’ve proposed a new banding structure within our nursing team with the aim of creating six new roles which will offer additional career progression for our staff. The new structure will allow us to spend more time with patients and we will begin recruiting for the roles soon. Our chaplaincy team continue to offer one-to-one spiritual care and support to all patients and family members. Sessions can take place on the Inpatient Wards, Day Therapies, in the Iona Café, in people’s own homes and through a variety of drop in support groups offered by the team on a weekly basis. The support extends to staff and volunteers. Our volunteers had a bumper year on the awards front with three individuals and our volunteer services team being presented with Inspiring Volunteer Awards at The City Chambers. The awards were a wonderful way to recognise their hard work and dedication. It’s also testament to how much we strive to make our volunteers feel welcome, valued and part of the team. We also celebrated a volunteer receiving an MBE for her work with the Hospice and others in the community.
A view to the courtyard through our 'one word' corridor. We asked everyone to write down something that's important to them on 'What matters to you?' day. Steven McLeod, Domestic Charge Hand, ensures the environment is clean, comfortable and safe. One of our youngest supporters, Rose Hutton, wears blue to raise money for the Hospice.
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“It’s all of the little extras that make the Hospice so special … I have nothing but admiration for the team of staff and volunteers.”
The things that make us 'us'
Pamela Curran, patient
clinical support on the wards, complementary therapy and helping out in the Iona Café and our shops. We believe in the importance of the arts in hospice care and have appointed an Arts Lead. Within the first year, we’ve collaborated with a number of local artists on performances and projects and introduced a number of music and art initiatives to establish the Hospice as a place where people can be creative, find meaning and live to their full potential.
Our workforce St Columba’s Hospice has a diverse and committed workforce made up of over 225 staff and over 630 volunteers. Each and every person plays a vital role in delivering support to individuals and families when it’s needed most. We care for everyone who needs and wants our help. That means we don’t just care for people diagnosed with a terminal illness from different religious and cultural backgrounds, we also care for their families, friends and communities. Throughout 2018/19 our highlights included: The creation of a brand new Family Support Team. We recruited a Family Support Worker who will help develop the service and provide one-to-one and group support for children and young people. As part of this service development we’ve also opened a bright and colourful counselling space especially for kids. Our team welcomed 112 new volunteers over the course of the year who are involved in all aspects of our service including research projects,
In response to feedback from patients, staff and volunteers, we’ve proposed a new banding structure within our nursing team with the aim of creating six new roles which will offer additional career progression for our staff. The new structure will allow us to spend more time with patients and we will begin recruiting for the roles soon. Our chaplaincy team continue to offer one-to-one spiritual care and support to all patients and family members. Sessions can take place on the Inpatient Wards, Day Therapies, in the Iona Café, in people’s own homes and through a variety of drop in support groups offered by the team on a weekly basis. The support extends to staff and volunteers. Our volunteers had a bumper year on the awards front with three individuals and our volunteer services team being presented with Inspiring Volunteer Awards at The City Chambers. The awards were a wonderful way to recognise their hard work and dedication. It’s also testament to how much we strive to make our volunteers feel welcome, valued and part of the team. We also celebrated a volunteer receiving an MBE for her work with the Hospice and others in the community.
A view to the courtyard through our 'one word' corridor. We asked everyone to write down something that's important to them on 'What matters to you?' day. Steven McLeod, Domestic Charge Hand, ensures the environment is clean, comfortable and safe. One of our youngest supporters, Rose Hutton, wears blue to raise money for the Hospice.
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The things that make us 'us' (cont)
Catriona Rennie took part in our Young Volunteer Project. Sisters Ruth and Jennifer brought in therapets Maddie and Morgan, for an STV feature highlighting the positive impact our furry friends have on our wellbeing. A patient's daughter and grandchild playing together in one of our family rooms.
10 staff graduated from our Leadership and Management course which aims to develop and enhance skills in coaching, developing and motivating teams. Participating staff are asked to complete a project on an area of their choice which could improve the care we deliver. One of the most recent projects was based on supporting patients with dementia and resulted in education sessions for staff, the development of a dementia pathway for inpatients and improved signage around the hospice building. We trialled an exciting new youth volunteering project in the autumn. We already involve volunteers under 18 on the wards and in our shops, but we wanted to offer young people a broader experience of the Hospice, so that they can gain an insight into all aspects of our work. We doubled the number of Therapets who visit and now have nine dogs and a cat. Our Volunteer Survey results revealed that 98% of our volunteers enjoy their volunteering; 95% feel welcomed and appreciate by those they meet or work with; and 95% would recommend volunteering at the Hospice to friends and family. We achieved our Healthy Working Lives Bronze Award which involved actively promoting health and wellbeing throughout the Hospice using a variety of initiatives. We continue to host weekly keep fit and yoga classes for the staff and are now working towards our silver award.
We secured funding for a new electronic incident reporting system which has now been rolled out across the organisation to improve the way we monitor and report incidents. This has enabled faster responses and improved productivity. We recruited a new Counselling and Bereavement Support Manager and a new member of the counselling team who have provided training and consultancy to hospice staff and GPs on grief, loss and bereavement and to hospice staff and volunteers on managing emotional distress. Following a successful pilot project, the Inpatient Unit introduced Patient Support Volunteers. By March we had seven Patient Support Volunteers helping on our wards. The role includes assisting with breakfast and lunch, assisting patients to complete menus, stocking up ward supplies and offering support to patients and families.
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The things that make us 'us' (cont)
Catriona Rennie took part in our Young Volunteer Project. Sisters Ruth and Jennifer brought in therapets Maddie and Morgan, for an STV feature highlighting the positive impact our furry friends have on our wellbeing. A patient's daughter and grandchild playing together in one of our family rooms.
10 staff graduated from our Leadership and Management course which aims to develop and enhance skills in coaching, developing and motivating teams. Participating staff are asked to complete a project on an area of their choice which could improve the care we deliver. One of the most recent projects was based on supporting patients with dementia and resulted in education sessions for staff, the development of a dementia pathway for inpatients and improved signage around the hospice building. We trialled an exciting new youth volunteering project in the autumn. We already involve volunteers under 18 on the wards and in our shops, but we wanted to offer young people a broader experience of the Hospice, so that they can gain an insight into all aspects of our work. We doubled the number of Therapets who visit and now have nine dogs and a cat. Our Volunteer Survey results revealed that 98% of our volunteers enjoy their volunteering; 95% feel welcomed and appreciate by those they meet or work with; and 95% would recommend volunteering at the Hospice to friends and family. We achieved our Healthy Working Lives Bronze Award which involved actively promoting health and wellbeing throughout the Hospice using a variety of initiatives. We continue to host weekly keep fit and yoga classes for the staff and are now working towards our silver award.
We secured funding for a new electronic incident reporting system which has now been rolled out across the organisation to improve the way we monitor and report incidents. This has enabled faster responses and improved productivity. We recruited a new Counselling and Bereavement Support Manager and a new member of the counselling team who have provided training and consultancy to hospice staff and GPs on grief, loss and bereavement and to hospice staff and volunteers on managing emotional distress. Following a successful pilot project, the Inpatient Unit introduced Patient Support Volunteers. By March we had seven Patient Support Volunteers helping on our wards. The role includes assisting with breakfast and lunch, assisting patients to complete menus, stocking up ward supplies and offering support to patients and families.
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The things that make us 'us' (cont)
“I am very grateful for the bereavement service offered to me. I feel I have the ‘tools’ to cope and face the future” Bereaved family member, attending counselling
Caring for people We work hard to help the people we care for carry on doing the things that matter to them with the people they love. We think that everyone affected by a terminal illness should have the power to exercise choice and control over their care and support. Our aim through every interaction with an individual or family is to give them access to the resources and services they need so that they can live as independently as possible for as long as they can. And that’s why we put patients and their families at the heart of everything we do both in the Hospice and in the community. We only get one chance to get it right. In 2018/19 we had over 420 admissions to our inpatient unit with an occupancy rate of 83%. We put our focus on expanding our Community Palliative Care Service, leading to a significant increase in the amount of care we provide. Recruiting more nurses has allowed us to see more people in their own homes and give people at the end of their lives more choice about where they want to be. As a result, we admitted 583 new patients to our Community Palliative Care Service, an increase of 11% in just 12 months. The team made almost 3000 home visits and also provide telephone support to patients, their families, carers and health and social care professionals. We developed our Day Therapies service, redesigning the model of care to focus on rehabilitation and supporting independence. Our specialist team offer a wide range of tailored therapies and have had over 1000 attendances throughout the year.
The introduction of drop in clinics within our Day Therapies Service has been a successful way of opening up the service to more people and since August we've delivered 95 sessions. The clinic is available to those attending Day Therapies and provides a gentle introduction to Complementary Therapy. Recently we piloted a drop in hairdressing clinic which had positive feedback from our patients who enjoyed having the wide range of treatments on offer. We know people can feel uneasy about visiting a hospice. To address this, we’ve collated information about services into a new directory to help answer questions people may have when they are referred to the service and help alleviate anxiety. To support this, we've a new 360 video on our website which gives an introduction to the service and our fantastic facilities. By using virtual reality, viewers can explore the hospice from the comfort of their own home and make confident choices about the care they want to receive. We’re exploring the importance of nutrition within a hospice setting by carrying out a research trial with patients to understand the nutritional and hydration needs of patients and carers. Our study recommendations aim to improve nutritional care and make our approaches more person-centred. We're developing a range of new bereavement support groups, as well as improving the ways we monitor and evaluate our services. We’ve also held four ‘Time of Remembrance’ events offering people the opportunity to gather and remember their loved one.
One of our patients enjoys a surprise visit from Therapy Ponies Scotland. Ian Gordon was referred to the Hospice in 2017 for pain management.
Ian's story In 2015, Ian Gordon was admitted to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with pneumonia. In 2017, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness and referred to the Hospice for pain management. “I remember thinking to myself that’s it, you’re going to come out in a box. Because I had no other experience of a hospice other than associating it with death and sadness. The doctor at the hospital told me they aren’t like that now and that they can really help with pain management and comfort. I was eventually convinced to go and my perceptions changed straight away. "They don’t just treat cancer, it’s much more than that and like mine, conditions can be very complex. Nurses and doctors were great at explaining everything to us. I was invited to the day therapies group after being discharged and came back every Tuesday. I’ve done gardening, and my wife and I have had massages and talk regularly with the social worker. The therapy dogs are brilliant too, when they come in it lights up people’s lives. I’ve made really good friends and meet up with them regularly. "It’s hard to put into words what it’s done for me, the support and the people are just unreal. It’s made me feel easier about what’s round the corner, I’d say the whole team are my angels. It’s easy to talk to everyone but not just that, I’m listened to. "I think back at my first thoughts and how wrong they were and if anyone else was feeling that way or scared about what to expect I’d tell them don’t be daft, get in there!”
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The things that make us 'us' (cont)
“I am very grateful for the bereavement service offered to me. I feel I have the ‘tools’ to cope and face the future” Bereaved family member, attending counselling
Caring for people We work hard to help the people we care for carry on doing the things that matter to them with the people they love. We think that everyone affected by a terminal illness should have the power to exercise choice and control over their care and support. Our aim through every interaction with an individual or family is to give them access to the resources and services they need so that they can live as independently as possible for as long as they can. And that’s why we put patients and their families at the heart of everything we do both in the Hospice and in the community. We only get one chance to get it right. In 2018/19 we had over 420 admissions to our inpatient unit with an occupancy rate of 83%. We put our focus on expanding our Community Palliative Care Service, leading to a significant increase in the amount of care we provide. Recruiting more nurses has allowed us to see more people in their own homes and give people at the end of their lives more choice about where they want to be. As a result, we admitted 583 new patients to our Community Palliative Care Service, an increase of 11% in just 12 months. The team made almost 3000 home visits and also provide telephone support to patients, their families, carers and health and social care professionals. We developed our Day Therapies service, redesigning the model of care to focus on rehabilitation and supporting independence. Our specialist team offer a wide range of tailored therapies and have had over 1000 attendances throughout the year.
The introduction of drop in clinics within our Day Therapies Service has been a successful way of opening up the service to more people and since August we've delivered 95 sessions. The clinic is available to those attending Day Therapies and provides a gentle introduction to Complementary Therapy. Recently we piloted a drop in hairdressing clinic which had positive feedback from our patients who enjoyed having the wide range of treatments on offer. We know people can feel uneasy about visiting a hospice. To address this, we’ve collated information about services into a new directory to help answer questions people may have when they are referred to the service and help alleviate anxiety. To support this, we've a new 360 video on our website which gives an introduction to the service and our fantastic facilities. By using virtual reality, viewers can explore the hospice from the comfort of their own home and make confident choices about the care they want to receive. We’re exploring the importance of nutrition within a hospice setting by carrying out a research trial with patients to understand the nutritional and hydration needs of patients and carers. Our study recommendations aim to improve nutritional care and make our approaches more person-centred. We're developing a range of new bereavement support groups, as well as improving the ways we monitor and evaluate our services. We’ve also held four ‘Time of Remembrance’ events offering people the opportunity to gather and remember their loved one.
One of our patients enjoys a surprise visit from Therapy Ponies Scotland. Ian Gordon was referred to the Hospice in 2017 for pain management.
Ian's story In 2015, Ian Gordon was admitted to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with pneumonia. In 2017, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness and referred to the Hospice for pain management. “I remember thinking to myself that’s it, you’re going to come out in a box. Because I had no other experience of a hospice other than associating it with death and sadness. The doctor at the hospital told me they aren’t like that now and that they can really help with pain management and comfort. I was eventually convinced to go and my perceptions changed straight away. "They don’t just treat cancer, it’s much more than that and like mine, conditions can be very complex. Nurses and doctors were great at explaining everything to us. I was invited to the day therapies group after being discharged and came back every Tuesday. I’ve done gardening, and my wife and I have had massages and talk regularly with the social worker. The therapy dogs are brilliant too, when they come in it lights up people’s lives. I’ve made really good friends and meet up with them regularly. "It’s hard to put into words what it’s done for me, the support and the people are just unreal. It’s made me feel easier about what’s round the corner, I’d say the whole team are my angels. It’s easy to talk to everyone but not just that, I’m listened to. "I think back at my first thoughts and how wrong they were and if anyone else was feeling that way or scared about what to expect I’d tell them don’t be daft, get in there!”
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10
(9 dogs and 1 cat called George)
Our hospice care in numbers
therapets!
For every £1 raised, 82p goes towards helping the people and families we support.
426 admissions to our inpatient unit
18p helps to raise the next £1
583 new patients admitted to our Community Palliative Care Service
1037 attendances to our Day Therapies service
161 patients and family members were referred to our counselling or bereavement services and we provided 980 individual sessions to support them
Our youngest volunteer is 16, our oldest volunteer is 95! Our army of volunteers donated 92,000 hours valued at £1.2 million 52 corporate volunteering groups have helped us out over the past year
638
volunteers
We presented 18 staff with long service awards celebrating over 235 years of service between them! We’ve delivered 335 hours of Complementary Therapy to our patients and carers
2905 home visits
We welcomed 50 new employees
We celebrated 630 years of volunteering at our long service awards
We have 8 solar thermal panels
Over 250 hours of arts and music sessions and events for over 1200 attendees
250 hours
We made the move to recycled paper, and all staff now receive epayslips online Our transition to becoming a paperless organisation has saved 72 trees, 31.5kg Co2 and 11772 m3 of water
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The things that make us 'us' (cont)
“I learned that you don’t really have to be afraid of talking to someone about your worries. Change matters, it’s not something that you have to hide.” Paris, age 8
We’ve trained 8 nursery staff and 35 school staff on how to effectively support children through bereavement and grief.
Joining the dots Scotland's Hospices Together is a national partnership which aims to support and highlight the important work independent hospices are doing to help people across Scotland. We’ve become the first Playlist for Life accredited hospice in Scotland.
From the point of diagnosis, our aim is to make sure that people know exactly what we do and how we can support them. Our work often involves difficult conversations but this is central to us being able to provide the best care possible, tailored to the needs of the individual. Identifying what matters most to a person early on is vital to making sure they have the knowledge they need to make the right choices. Throughout 2018/19, we focused on extending our reach in communities and strengthening our relationship with health and social care providers to make that journey as seamless as possible. We hosted an open event at the Hospice for health and social care professionals. Over 20 attendees came from across Edinburgh and the Lothians to learn about our work, the referral process and our facilities. It strengthened relationships and we hope to encourage earlier and more referrals. We’ve launched Project ECHO, to improve care in the community through learning and sharing. Our project lead organises regular video conferences with care homes across Edinburgh and the Lothians to offer palliative care advice and support to staff, improve decision-making and offer a platform for collaborative problem solving. To date, we’ve approached almost 50 care homes and hosted 22 support sessions, attracting 197 attendances from 75 participants. Since launching the project, we estimate that using the ECHO model has given us the potential to reach an additional 775 people in need of palliative care.
A partnership project was launched with Fischy Music and Victoria Primary School which supported the school community, staff, parents and children to consider grief and loss, and engage creatively with music to help express emotions. Our Family Support Worker has been delivering training sessions and telephone support to local schools and nurseries so staff have the tools they need to support children. Through our newly developed Arts Service we’ve carried out a number of research and education initiatives exploring the role of the arts in end of life care. Following a strategic partnership with the Scottish Music Therapy Trust, we are now hosting regular public music therapy lectures and workshops. We announced a new partnership with Blood Bikes Scotland. The free of charge medical courier service is run by volunteers and helps move urgent items between the Hospice and NHS sites or patients homes quickly. We ran a six-month education programme in collaboration with Queen Margaret University, NHS Borders and PATCH (Palliation and the Caring Hospital). 22 registered nurses from various clinical areas have completed the programme aimed at developing palliative and end of life care practice. We secured a new partnership between our Complementary Therapy Service and Edinburgh College Hairdressing, Beauty and Complementary Therapy Department. Due to the continued increase in referrals and demand on the service, we are offering student placement and volunteering opportunities within our Complementary Therapy team to second and third year students from the college. We have also
secured discounts on treatments for our patients, carers and staff at the college salon. We supported the care of people living with a dementia by introducing ‘Playlist for Life’ into the organisation. We're the first hospice in Scotland to become Playlist for Life accredited. We had a physiotherapy student for two weeks jointly with the Lothian Lymphedema service and an Occupational Therapy student for eight weeks working in our Inpatient Unit, Community Services and Day Therapies. We continue to work jointly with Queen Margaret University in supporting students and being involved in presenting on palliative care. Our involvement in national partnership ‘Scotland’s Hospices Together’ helps us generate support at national level and raise awareness of hospice care across Scotland. The Scottish Sun supported the partnership by running a week long feature series about hospice care in the lead up to Christmas and organised a pop-up shop in the St Enoch’s Centre, Glasgow. Our chaplain exhibited a poster at The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care in November, outlining the chaplaincy group work undertaken under the Coracle Project with bereaved relatives. The resulting art works were also displayed in the Hospice and at our Ocean Terminal exhibition space.
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The things that make us 'us' (cont)
“I learned that you don’t really have to be afraid of talking to someone about your worries. Change matters, it’s not something that you have to hide.” Paris, age 8
We’ve trained 8 nursery staff and 35 school staff on how to effectively support children through bereavement and grief.
Joining the dots Scotland's Hospices Together is a national partnership which aims to support and highlight the important work independent hospices are doing to help people across Scotland. We’ve become the first Playlist for Life accredited hospice in Scotland.
From the point of diagnosis, our aim is to make sure that people know exactly what we do and how we can support them. Our work often involves difficult conversations but this is central to us being able to provide the best care possible, tailored to the needs of the individual. Identifying what matters most to a person early on is vital to making sure they have the knowledge they need to make the right choices. Throughout 2018/19, we focused on extending our reach in communities and strengthening our relationship with health and social care providers to make that journey as seamless as possible. We hosted an open event at the Hospice for health and social care professionals. Over 20 attendees came from across Edinburgh and the Lothians to learn about our work, the referral process and our facilities. It strengthened relationships and we hope to encourage earlier and more referrals. We’ve launched Project ECHO, to improve care in the community through learning and sharing. Our project lead organises regular video conferences with care homes across Edinburgh and the Lothians to offer palliative care advice and support to staff, improve decision-making and offer a platform for collaborative problem solving. To date, we’ve approached almost 50 care homes and hosted 22 support sessions, attracting 197 attendances from 75 participants. Since launching the project, we estimate that using the ECHO model has given us the potential to reach an additional 775 people in need of palliative care.
A partnership project was launched with Fischy Music and Victoria Primary School which supported the school community, staff, parents and children to consider grief and loss, and engage creatively with music to help express emotions. Our Family Support Worker has been delivering training sessions and telephone support to local schools and nurseries so staff have the tools they need to support children. Through our newly developed Arts Service we’ve carried out a number of research and education initiatives exploring the role of the arts in end of life care. Following a strategic partnership with the Scottish Music Therapy Trust, we are now hosting regular public music therapy lectures and workshops. We announced a new partnership with Blood Bikes Scotland. The free of charge medical courier service is run by volunteers and helps move urgent items between the Hospice and NHS sites or patients homes quickly. We ran a six-month education programme in collaboration with Queen Margaret University, NHS Borders and PATCH (Palliation and the Caring Hospital). 22 registered nurses from various clinical areas have completed the programme aimed at developing palliative and end of life care practice. We secured a new partnership between our Complementary Therapy Service and Edinburgh College Hairdressing, Beauty and Complementary Therapy Department. Due to the continued increase in referrals and demand on the service, we are offering student placement and volunteering opportunities within our Complementary Therapy team to second and third year students from the college. We have also
secured discounts on treatments for our patients, carers and staff at the college salon. We supported the care of people living with a dementia by introducing ‘Playlist for Life’ into the organisation. We're the first hospice in Scotland to become Playlist for Life accredited. We had a physiotherapy student for two weeks jointly with the Lothian Lymphedema service and an Occupational Therapy student for eight weeks working in our Inpatient Unit, Community Services and Day Therapies. We continue to work jointly with Queen Margaret University in supporting students and being involved in presenting on palliative care. Our involvement in national partnership ‘Scotland’s Hospices Together’ helps us generate support at national level and raise awareness of hospice care across Scotland. The Scottish Sun supported the partnership by running a week long feature series about hospice care in the lead up to Christmas and organised a pop-up shop in the St Enoch’s Centre, Glasgow. Our chaplain exhibited a poster at The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care in November, outlining the chaplaincy group work undertaken under the Coracle Project with bereaved relatives. The resulting art works were also displayed in the Hospice and at our Ocean Terminal exhibition space.
14 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 15
The things that make us 'us' (cont)
“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life.” Dame Cicely Saunders
Generating and sharing new knowledge and skills Our Education and Research Centre supports the delivery of the best possible care and promotes innovative and pioneering approaches to practice. We support the development of palliative and end-of life care locally, nationally and internationally. It’s education and research that enables us to take a person-centred care approach through focusing on values and beliefs and facilitating learning in practice. During 2018/19 we: We facilitated mandatory training through online and face-to-face events and offered continued professional development through mentorship and workshops. We continued to evaluate and adapt the clinical staff orientation programme and supported reflective practice by offering clinical supervision for Inpatient Unit nursing staff. We evaluated the Single Nurse Administration Project and continued to support Registered Nurses in the Inpatient Unit to complete this programme of education. Usually, two nurses are required for dispensing and administering controlled drugs, by introducing this programme of study, we'll provide a quicker response time to patient symptoms and increase confidence and motivation in our care team.
We continued to grow as a researchactive hospice. Our collaborations with Queen Margaret University and the University of Edinburgh continue alongside collaborations with Stirling University and with our Marie Curie colleagues. We also remain engaged with our own portfolio of research centred on three themes: clinical innovation, person-centred care and the evaluation of services at the Hospice. We’ve implementing the Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative (OACC) across the organisation. OACC is a suite of measures which allow us to enhance our work using a set of standard assessment tools to gather consistent information in everyday practice about our patients and families. The approach improves care processes which leads to improved symptom identifications and better communication. We supported and supervised students working towards Medical Degrees, Masters Degrees and PhDs in undertaking research projects. We ran degree and Masters level specialist palliative care modules, supporting students to complete core modules towards the MSc in Person-centred Practice (Palliative Care) in partnership with Queen Margaret University. As well as hosting visitors from UK, we continued with our international connections with health care professionals and students visiting the hospice from Israel, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and USA. In total 78 visitors came the hospice this year for educational visits.
We had 47 students within the Masters and Degree programmes – six are registered nurses from the Hospice, one of whom graduated with the MSc in Palliative Care this year. We had 28 articles published in academic journals and 17 oral and poster presentations at conferences nationally and internationally We had 8 active research projects. These included an Exercise and Nutritional Rehabilitation intervention in patients with cancer, with an embedded qualitative study, the use of Virtual Reality in a hospice setting and research into the role of dietitian interventions in a hospice setting. We also collaborated on a project investigating the cost and effectiveness of day hospice care across UK as well as research looking at the support for people with palliative care needs ‘out of hours’ in Scotland.
“St Columba’s Hospice provides a supportive learning environment, I learned so much more than expected; face to face classes were important to me however having an option for the mode of study in the degree level modules is great.”
A view of the wards from the gardens featuring our pet cow Thistle, donated by Sir Tom Farmer. Our team regularly attend events and conferences to share industry knowledge and review ways of working.
14 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 15
The things that make us 'us' (cont)
“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life.” Dame Cicely Saunders
Generating and sharing new knowledge and skills Our Education and Research Centre supports the delivery of the best possible care and promotes innovative and pioneering approaches to practice. We support the development of palliative and end-of life care locally, nationally and internationally. It’s education and research that enables us to take a person-centred care approach through focusing on values and beliefs and facilitating learning in practice. During 2018/19 we: We facilitated mandatory training through online and face-to-face events and offered continued professional development through mentorship and workshops. We continued to evaluate and adapt the clinical staff orientation programme and supported reflective practice by offering clinical supervision for Inpatient Unit nursing staff. We evaluated the Single Nurse Administration Project and continued to support Registered Nurses in the Inpatient Unit to complete this programme of education. Usually, two nurses are required for dispensing and administering controlled drugs, by introducing this programme of study, we'll provide a quicker response time to patient symptoms and increase confidence and motivation in our care team.
We continued to grow as a researchactive hospice. Our collaborations with Queen Margaret University and the University of Edinburgh continue alongside collaborations with Stirling University and with our Marie Curie colleagues. We also remain engaged with our own portfolio of research centred on three themes: clinical innovation, person-centred care and the evaluation of services at the Hospice. We’ve implementing the Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative (OACC) across the organisation. OACC is a suite of measures which allow us to enhance our work using a set of standard assessment tools to gather consistent information in everyday practice about our patients and families. The approach improves care processes which leads to improved symptom identifications and better communication. We supported and supervised students working towards Medical Degrees, Masters Degrees and PhDs in undertaking research projects. We ran degree and Masters level specialist palliative care modules, supporting students to complete core modules towards the MSc in Person-centred Practice (Palliative Care) in partnership with Queen Margaret University. As well as hosting visitors from UK, we continued with our international connections with health care professionals and students visiting the hospice from Israel, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and USA. In total 78 visitors came the hospice this year for educational visits.
We had 47 students within the Masters and Degree programmes – six are registered nurses from the Hospice, one of whom graduated with the MSc in Palliative Care this year. We had 28 articles published in academic journals and 17 oral and poster presentations at conferences nationally and internationally We had 8 active research projects. These included an Exercise and Nutritional Rehabilitation intervention in patients with cancer, with an embedded qualitative study, the use of Virtual Reality in a hospice setting and research into the role of dietitian interventions in a hospice setting. We also collaborated on a project investigating the cost and effectiveness of day hospice care across UK as well as research looking at the support for people with palliative care needs ‘out of hours’ in Scotland.
“St Columba’s Hospice provides a supportive learning environment, I learned so much more than expected; face to face classes were important to me however having an option for the mode of study in the degree level modules is great.”
A view of the wards from the gardens featuring our pet cow Thistle, donated by Sir Tom Farmer. Our team regularly attend events and conferences to share industry knowledge and review ways of working.
Generating income
16 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
17 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
We’re continually in awe of the inspiring, unique and truly innovative ways our supporters help us raise money. A huge percentage of those that support us or who take on a fundraising challenge, have been directly touched by the Hospice, either through using our services or knowing someone that has. Fundraised income makes up a significant amount of our total income and this means the dedication and generosity of our supporters is vital in helping us make a difference to the lives of families across Edinburgh and the Lothians. Throughout 2018/19, our total income was an incredible £7.9m. Every penny and pound we receive helps us to provide vital care and support when it is needed most. Our hospice care is about much more than simply what happens in our building, and we continue to meet and support people in their own homes across Edinburgh and East Lothian. Some of the income highlights which allowed us to continue to our important work included the below; Outside of our funding from the NHS, we raised £1.2m from donations and legacies remained the single biggest source of voluntary income to the Hospice amounting to £2.1m. We also expanded our retail offering by opening our very first charity shop and community hub in East Lothian with our shops collectively bringing in £603k. Our biggest fundraising appeal of the year was Light up a Life which brought in over £115k and saw 2000 people gather to watch our Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We added a new digital strand to the appeal by launching the world’s first memory-powered interactive map with backing from Tony Singh. The launch attracted almost 1000 beautiful memories and endorsement from several high profile figures, including Miles Briggs MSP who
raised a parliamentary motion in support of our campaign. We held our first ever Ladies Lunch, hosted by Michelle McManus which brought in over £25k and also trialled a new location for our Walk to Remember along the East Lothian coastline which raised £12.8k. We received overwhelming support from our corporate partners with Ocean Terminal raising close to £100k through a variety of activities including bucket & tin collections, face painting, a Santa’s Grotto, Christmas wrapping, wishing wells and a very successful pop-up shop. The partnership was so successful Ocean Terminal has decided to partner with us indefinitely. Ocean Terminal also proved the ideal location for us to launch our Dragon Boat Race which attracted participant teams from local companies, raised nearly £17k in its first year. This facilitated new relationships with Forth Ports who sponsored the event and the Royal Yacht Britannia who have offered private visits for our Day Therapies patients amongst other support. Another significant partnership was with BlackRock who held a fundraising ball, staff bake-off, entered teams in our pub quiz and Dragon Boat Race events and competed against each other in an inter-office sponsored row-a-thon, all of which raised nearly £50k. They also provided the use of their board room to host a corporate event with endurance athlete and motivational speaker, Sean Conway. Throughout the year we also saw support from numerous other companies including Standard Life, Davidson Chalmers, John Lewis, TSB, Royal Bank of Canada, the Institute and Faculty of Advocates.
“The care and support from the incredible healthcare professionals at the Hospice was just amazing and made sure that my mother was as comfortable as possible in her final days. We wanted to give something back. Our aim was to find a challenge that pushed the physical and mental boundaries and crossing Canada and Scotland will certainly do that.” Matthew Waterson, supporter
£7.9m
Total income
£10.2m Cost to run our services
Generating income
16 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
17 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
We’re continually in awe of the inspiring, unique and truly innovative ways our supporters help us raise money. A huge percentage of those that support us or who take on a fundraising challenge, have been directly touched by the Hospice, either through using our services or knowing someone that has. Fundraised income makes up a significant amount of our total income and this means the dedication and generosity of our supporters is vital in helping us make a difference to the lives of families across Edinburgh and the Lothians. Throughout 2018/19, our total income was an incredible £7.9m. Every penny and pound we receive helps us to provide vital care and support when it is needed most. Our hospice care is about much more than simply what happens in our building, and we continue to meet and support people in their own homes across Edinburgh and East Lothian. Some of the income highlights which allowed us to continue to our important work included the below; Outside of our funding from the NHS, we raised £1.2m from donations and legacies remained the single biggest source of voluntary income to the Hospice amounting to £2.1m. We also expanded our retail offering by opening our very first charity shop and community hub in East Lothian with our shops collectively bringing in £603k. Our biggest fundraising appeal of the year was Light up a Life which brought in over £115k and saw 2000 people gather to watch our Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We added a new digital strand to the appeal by launching the world’s first memory-powered interactive map with backing from Tony Singh. The launch attracted almost 1000 beautiful memories and endorsement from several high profile figures, including Miles Briggs MSP who
raised a parliamentary motion in support of our campaign. We held our first ever Ladies Lunch, hosted by Michelle McManus which brought in over £25k and also trialled a new location for our Walk to Remember along the East Lothian coastline which raised £12.8k. We received overwhelming support from our corporate partners with Ocean Terminal raising close to £100k through a variety of activities including bucket & tin collections, face painting, a Santa’s Grotto, Christmas wrapping, wishing wells and a very successful pop-up shop. The partnership was so successful Ocean Terminal has decided to partner with us indefinitely. Ocean Terminal also proved the ideal location for us to launch our Dragon Boat Race which attracted participant teams from local companies, raised nearly £17k in its first year. This facilitated new relationships with Forth Ports who sponsored the event and the Royal Yacht Britannia who have offered private visits for our Day Therapies patients amongst other support. Another significant partnership was with BlackRock who held a fundraising ball, staff bake-off, entered teams in our pub quiz and Dragon Boat Race events and competed against each other in an inter-office sponsored row-a-thon, all of which raised nearly £50k. They also provided the use of their board room to host a corporate event with endurance athlete and motivational speaker, Sean Conway. Throughout the year we also saw support from numerous other companies including Standard Life, Davidson Chalmers, John Lewis, TSB, Royal Bank of Canada, the Institute and Faculty of Advocates.
“The care and support from the incredible healthcare professionals at the Hospice was just amazing and made sure that my mother was as comfortable as possible in her final days. We wanted to give something back. Our aim was to find a challenge that pushed the physical and mental boundaries and crossing Canada and Scotland will certainly do that.” Matthew Waterson, supporter
£7.9m
Total income
£10.2m Cost to run our services
18 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 19
Generating income (cont)
Corporate volunteers help out in the Hospice garden. Michelle McManus poses with guests at our first Ladies Lunch. Supporters are directed along the route during our Walk to Remember fundraising event in East Lothian.
A vital component in raising more money and letting people know about our work is through how we engage with our audiences. We’ve strengthened partnerships with local and national media gaining extensive coverage and raising our profile throughout the year. Highlights include: An STV feature on our lovely therapets Maddie and Morgan. Volunteers Ruth and Jennifer kindly supported us by bringing their pets in to be filmed for the afternoon. The feel good short film was featured on STV News at 6, on their website and on social media where the clip gained over 82k views. We secured a feature with the BBC to show the fantastic research we’ve undertaken with Virtual Reality company Viarama and Queen Margaret University. The feature, showcasing how virtual reality can have a positive impact in a hospice setting, was shown on the news and attracted lots of engagement online resulting in a number of articles praising our innovative work. The launch of our Light up a Memory interactive map generated coverage in 18 publications including The Scotsman, Metro, Sunday Post, Daily Record and East Lothian Courier. Our first ever Ladies Lunch achieved picture spreads in Edinburgh Life Magazine and Edinburgh Evening News. We’ve seen consistent growth in our social media channels and our engagement rate is consistently above the average for the non-profit sector. We continue to expand our reach through digital channels and are exploring creative ways to engage with our audiences.
18 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19 | 19
Generating income (cont)
Corporate volunteers help out in the Hospice garden. Michelle McManus poses with guests at our first Ladies Lunch. Supporters are directed along the route during our Walk to Remember fundraising event in East Lothian.
A vital component in raising more money and letting people know about our work is through how we engage with our audiences. We’ve strengthened partnerships with local and national media gaining extensive coverage and raising our profile throughout the year. Highlights include: An STV feature on our lovely therapets Maddie and Morgan. Volunteers Ruth and Jennifer kindly supported us by bringing their pets in to be filmed for the afternoon. The feel good short film was featured on STV News at 6, on their website and on social media where the clip gained over 82k views. We secured a feature with the BBC to show the fantastic research we’ve undertaken with Virtual Reality company Viarama and Queen Margaret University. The feature, showcasing how virtual reality can have a positive impact in a hospice setting, was shown on the news and attracted lots of engagement online resulting in a number of articles praising our innovative work. The launch of our Light up a Memory interactive map generated coverage in 18 publications including The Scotsman, Metro, Sunday Post, Daily Record and East Lothian Courier. Our first ever Ladies Lunch achieved picture spreads in Edinburgh Life Magazine and Edinburgh Evening News. We’ve seen consistent growth in our social media channels and our engagement rate is consistently above the average for the non-profit sector. We continue to expand our reach through digital channels and are exploring creative ways to engage with our audiences.
20 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
“When they settled him into bed, he fist pumped the air and said, "Yes! this is where I want to be!" As a family, we are so thankful that he is in a place where he feels safe.”
Looking forward
Inpatient family member
St Columba’s Hospice is a very special place with a unique history of innovation and care which covers over 40 years. Our current strategic plan, Care and Compassion, enables us to take great strides towards achieving our vision. This includes giving more people access to person-centred care, expanding our pre and post bereavement care, giving health and social care professionals more palliative care knowledge through education and research, maintaining a level of excellence in care and involving the wider community when it comes to developing the future of hospice care. Despite urgency to meet the growing needs of our patients, deliver quality care, improve our performance and closely monitor our finances, we are ambitious about the future and have already started on extensive research to inform what the next five years look like. Our priorities for the next 12 months are: Supporting and investing in our staff and volunteers to improve the way we work and ensure we are delivering consistently excellent person-centered care. Through regular training and investment in our team we can be responsive to changes and evolve with the ever changing healthcare landscape. We’re Investors in People accredited and will continue to use the framework to improve performance and achieve objectives through the management and development of our team.
Focusing on the way we use technology to transform relationships with our patients and the communities we serve by; using digital technology to improve access and services, involving patients in every aspect of their health, wellbeing and care and placing patient and public engagement at the heart of everything we do. St Columba’s Hospice must evolve as a brand to meet the 21st century needs of the community. In addition to refreshing our messaging and look, we’ll be updating our website to better widen access to our care and services and grow our loyal supporter base. We’re looking at introducing contactless payment systems and will continue to research how Virtual Reality can improve the service we offer. Developing new partnerships and strengthening existing relationships so that through collaboration, we can address variations in care across Edinburgh and the Lothians, transform the delivery of clinical services in the community and create a sustainable service for the future by reducing costs and increasing productivity. The care system is currently fragmented which results in duplication and confusion for both staff and patients. To address this, we’re exploring options for an upgraded electronic records system which is integrated with the NHS and will improve the quality of patient experience. In addition, we will continue to roll out our Project ECHO service delivery model to include support for young adults, homeless people and people in prisons. We’re also in the early stages of a Hospice Admissions Project with Marie Curie. The aim of the project is to gain a better understanding of who is admitted to the hospice, why they’re referred and what their experiences are. We aim to use the results to identify any gaps in community
services that may have contributed to their referral and to help to inform how our services develop in the future. Undertaking and developing research in palliative care and creating world-class clinical academic services and accelerating the introduction of world-leading initiatives to advance care. We will also continue to develop the clinical skills our staff need to deliver modern hospice care. Our Wellbeing Project aims to improve the lives of patients and their families. Through the project, we aim to alleviate hardship for those accessing palliative care, further research the impact of nutrition in end of life care and carry out an extension of all current supportive care service including bereavement, counselling, arts and complementary therapies. In the latter part of 2018, we started to look at our Allied Health Professional (AHP) service and how we can improve and expand current services to offer patients and their families more. This involved simplifying our referral processes with one point of contact for staff referring patients. We’re now planning development of an AHP lead symptom management group for inpatients, community and day therapies supporting symptoms of breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety as well as a step down group from day therapies focusing on exercise and wellbeing and carers support.
20 | St Columba’s Hospice Annual Review 2018|19
“When they settled him into bed, he fist pumped the air and said, "Yes! this is where I want to be!" As a family, we are so thankful that he is in a place where he feels safe.”
Looking forward
Inpatient family member
St Columba’s Hospice is a very special place with a unique history of innovation and care which covers over 40 years. Our current strategic plan, Care and Compassion, enables us to take great strides towards achieving our vision. This includes giving more people access to person-centred care, expanding our pre and post bereavement care, giving health and social care professionals more palliative care knowledge through education and research, maintaining a level of excellence in care and involving the wider community when it comes to developing the future of hospice care. Despite urgency to meet the growing needs of our patients, deliver quality care, improve our performance and closely monitor our finances, we are ambitious about the future and have already started on extensive research to inform what the next five years look like. Our priorities for the next 12 months are: Supporting and investing in our staff and volunteers to improve the way we work and ensure we are delivering consistently excellent person-centered care. Through regular training and investment in our team we can be responsive to changes and evolve with the ever changing healthcare landscape. We’re Investors in People accredited and will continue to use the framework to improve performance and achieve objectives through the management and development of our team.
Focusing on the way we use technology to transform relationships with our patients and the communities we serve by; using digital technology to improve access and services, involving patients in every aspect of their health, wellbeing and care and placing patient and public engagement at the heart of everything we do. St Columba’s Hospice must evolve as a brand to meet the 21st century needs of the community. In addition to refreshing our messaging and look, we’ll be updating our website to better widen access to our care and services and grow our loyal supporter base. We’re looking at introducing contactless payment systems and will continue to research how Virtual Reality can improve the service we offer. Developing new partnerships and strengthening existing relationships so that through collaboration, we can address variations in care across Edinburgh and the Lothians, transform the delivery of clinical services in the community and create a sustainable service for the future by reducing costs and increasing productivity. The care system is currently fragmented which results in duplication and confusion for both staff and patients. To address this, we’re exploring options for an upgraded electronic records system which is integrated with the NHS and will improve the quality of patient experience. In addition, we will continue to roll out our Project ECHO service delivery model to include support for young adults, homeless people and people in prisons. We’re also in the early stages of a Hospice Admissions Project with Marie Curie. The aim of the project is to gain a better understanding of who is admitted to the hospice, why they’re referred and what their experiences are. We aim to use the results to identify any gaps in community
services that may have contributed to their referral and to help to inform how our services develop in the future. Undertaking and developing research in palliative care and creating world-class clinical academic services and accelerating the introduction of world-leading initiatives to advance care. We will also continue to develop the clinical skills our staff need to deliver modern hospice care. Our Wellbeing Project aims to improve the lives of patients and their families. Through the project, we aim to alleviate hardship for those accessing palliative care, further research the impact of nutrition in end of life care and carry out an extension of all current supportive care service including bereavement, counselling, arts and complementary therapies. In the latter part of 2018, we started to look at our Allied Health Professional (AHP) service and how we can improve and expand current services to offer patients and their families more. This involved simplifying our referral processes with one point of contact for staff referring patients. We’re now planning development of an AHP lead symptom management group for inpatients, community and day therapies supporting symptoms of breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety as well as a step down group from day therapies focusing on exercise and wellbeing and carers support.
Find out more about St Columba’s Hospice 0131 551 1381 info@stcolumbashospice.org.uk stcolumbashospice.org.uk 15 Boswall Road, Edinburgh EH5 3RW St Columba’s Hospice Ltd (Registered in Scotland No. 48700) Charity No. SC003634.
@StColumbas @StColumbas