NHS Highland chiefs give re-assurances on future of end of life care in Badenoch and Strathspey
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NHS Highland chiefs have given assurances on palliative care provision in the strath once Grantown’s Ian Charles and St Vincent’s Hospital in Kingussie close this Autumn.
A public consultation on the local redesign of health and social care services in 2014 identified enhanced end-of-life care services as a key priority.
Since then NHS Highland said it has been working on improvements including with better support for dying at home.
There are currently 10 beds in St Vincent’s Hospital – two of which are community access beds held for GPs to admit local patients for either rehabilitation but mainly end of life care.
Ian Charles has two such beds out of its 11.
The new Badenoch and Strathspey Hospital in Aviemore will have 20 beds, three of which will be community access beds.
An NHS Highland spokesman said: “This will be reviewed as we go on as we anticipate that more local solutions in Kingussie and Grantown will mean there is less demand. However, if we need to increase these in future that could be done.
“Two of the rooms will be kitted out with special equipment such as cuddle beds...
“There is also a Heather Bed at the Wade Centre in Kingussie which has not been able to be used recently due to staffing difficulties but this will be there and open when St Vincent’s closes to provide an alternative to hospital admission.
“This is essentially a residential care home bed with the district nurses in reaching to support as needed for people for whom remaining at home is not an option.
“There are also now two Heather Beds at Grant House in Grantown that operate in the same way.
“We envisage one will be for end-of-life care and one for rehabilitation.
“Having three different options in the strath – ie. admission to the new hospital, admission to a local Heather Bed, or community support to stay at home – will mean that end of life care is enhanced rather than diminished.”
Maria Dickson, NHS Highland’s area manager for the area, said the need for greater choice and flexibility around end of life care has never been as important.
“This is an incredibly difficult time to support a loved one who is dying, or to deal with a loved one’s death," she said.
“Over the last three years, NHS Highland has worked closely with partner agencies including Marie Curie, MacMillan, the Scottish Ambulance Service and local GPs to ensure people living in the strath have more support to receive palliative care at home, and have greater choice and flexibility in how their care is delivered...
“We have worked collaboratively with our partners to improve care at home and district nursing services, increase access to Marie Curie overnight services and provide access, where necessary, to palliative care Heather Beds in the Wade Centre and at Grant House.
“In addition, we have enhanced care at home provision across the strath, with a further increase being planned for September to coincide with the closure of the two hospitals.
“This, combined with an increase in district nursing, will support people to remain at home should they choose to do so.”
The strath has also been selected as a test site for the ‘End of Life Care Together’ project, being run by NHS Highland and the Highland Hospice aiming to further strengthen palliative care in the region.
The other two test sites are Inverness and Caithness.
Ms Dickson said: "We know how important it is for people to die in their own home and this project will enable us to develop innovative ways to provide people with more choice on how their end-of-life care is delivered.”
Local Highland councillor Bill Lobban has welcomed the reassurances: "NHS Highland has worked hard to ensure that there is an overall improvement in community based care once the new hospital opens and any additional investment is to be welcomed.
"Many people nearing the end of their lives wish to spend what time they have left at home surrounded by their loved ones and these proposals would seem to make that choice much easier."
Fellow local member Muriel Cockburn said: "The most important thing is that individuals are supported in choices for end of life care."
No specific date has been set for the closure of the two long-serving hospitals. The NHS spokesman said: "We are awaiting confirmation of the handover before we are able to give exact timescales."
More on the End of Life Care Together project can be found at https://highlandhospice.org/what-we-do/end-of-life-care-together
What are Heather Beds?
Heather Beds are a short stay ‘step-up, step-down’ facility within a care home, which allows enhanced services to be provided to help avoid unnecessary hospital admissions for some people or to enable discharge from hospital.
The beds allow for more flexible use than long stay residential care home beds including emergency respite and end-of-life care. The care home staff deliver care, with community nursing, health professionals and GPs visiting to support as required.
