We care for people with a serious progressive illness who have complex needs which cannot be met by other services. These include cancer and neurological, respiratory, cardiac and renal conditions.
The care and support we offer
- Community Nursing Team
- Hospice at Home Service
- Living Well Services
- In-patient Unit for Specialist Palliative Care
- Family Support Services
- Medical Services
- Allied Healthcare Professionals
- Spiritual Care
- Education and Resources Centre
- Volunteer Services
We aim to improve patients’ quality of life, helping them to live as fully as they can to the end of their lives, however long that may be. We work with other health-care partners to prevent crisis intervention and hospital admissions where possible.
Every day, the team at St Richard’s Hospice has more than 1,220 people under our care – at the hospice, in people’s own homes or in the community.
All our services are available free of charge to people registered with a South Worcestershire GP (for example in Worcester, Droitwich, Pershore, Evesham, Malvern, Tewkesbury, Broadway, Martley and surrounding areas.) The St Richard’s In-patient Unit cares for people across Worcestershire including those living in the Wyre Forest, Kidderminster, Redditch and Bromsgrove areas.
Our care is unique to each individual – whatever their physical, emotional or spiritual needs.
Our hospice team includes people with a wide range of expertise, experience and knowledge.
One of our main aims is to enable patients to stay at home where possible, providing our care alongside their own doctors and nurses. When appropriate, patients may be admitted to the In-patient Unit.
We care for people by:
- Early involvement in the course of a person’s illness alongside other therapies that are intended to prolong life
- Enabling people to manage their illness and remain independent for as long as possible
- Helping people to control their pain and other worrying symptoms
- Helping people with emotional, social, practical and spiritual issues
- Supporting families and carers before and through bereavement
- Working in partnership with other health care providers and organisations
- Encouraging wider understanding that death is a part of life
- Supporting the local community to be well informed about the care available to them
- Supporting the health and social care workforce through education to provide high-quality, individualised care.
Where we care
We offer free care and support for people in the hospice, in the community, in GP surgeries, at clinics or by telephone/online.
Our Gateway Service
The Gateway Service acts as a ‘gateway to hospice care’ for patients, families and professionals.
The Gateway Team is staffed with three Community Clinical Nurse Specialists and a Social Worker. This team of highly skilled professionals makes telephone contact with every new referral into the hospice and for Bereavement Support South Worcestershire.
They undertake a telephone triage assessment and ensure that the patient gets the right support, from the right person or team, at the right time. As the first port of contact we explain all about hospice services and offer patient/ family choice about access to care. The nurses field calls for the Community Nursing Team when they are out visiting and can manage complex symptoms and provide emotional support as needed.
The Gateway Team manages all of the calls for people requiring immediate assistance and advice to get support when needed. During the pandemic these calls have increased in number due to isolation and anxiety.
The team also supports planned and unplanned admissions and transfer to the hospice from the community and hospitals. They regularly call patients and families to provide compassionate support at the end of the telephone.
Every year St Richard’s provides free, expert care and support for over 3,180 patients, their loved ones and the bereaved. St Richard’s is an independent registered charity. The majority of income is from public donations; this includes gifts in Wills, one-off or regular donations, fundraising events and personal challenges, trading, and grants from trusts and business sponsorship.
Standards
As with all other health care organisations, the work of St Richard’s Hospice is subject to inspection and regulation. All staff and volunteers are governed by strict confidentiality policy and abide by professional practice guidelines.
St Richard’s Hospice is inspected and regulated by the Care Quality Commission.
Feedback comments or complaints
We really value feedback about our services as it helps us to continually improve. If you wish to comment or have a complaint please don’t hesitate to contact us in one of the following ways:
Debbie Westwood, Care Director.
St Richard’s Hospice, Wildwood Drive, Worcester WR5 2QT
or by email via our Feedback form
You can also feedback directly to the Care Quality Commission about positive and negative experiences of our care: feedback to the Care Quality Commission
You can learn more in our How to comment or complain about our services booklet