Harrogate's Saint Michael's Hospice HOME Care Service - here's everything you need to know

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Saint Michael’s HOME Service sees healthcare assistants visit people who are living with terminal illness in their own homes to offer support with personal care, daily activities such as bathing and eating, and the monitoring and management of symptoms.

The service helps people to return from hospital sooner, feel more comfortable, and achieve their wish to stay in their preferred place of care for as long as possible.

The majority of the funding for this service comes from Harrogate and Rural District Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and can therefore be accessed by patients assessed for a particular NHS funding package, as part of a wider package of care delivered by healthcare professionals from various local organisations.

To continue caring for as many people as possible, Saint Michael’s must also fundraise to supplement the statutory funding it receives as part of this service.

In 2019, Saint Michael’s cared for over 150 people at home in the last weeks of their life, twice as many as the previous year.

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Alex Thomas, Saint Michael’s HOME Service Lead, believes it is important that people have a choice.

HShe said: “Giving people the choice, where possible, regarding where they are cared for when they are nearing the end of their lives, is paramount to putting the patient at the centre of what we do.

“It empowers our patients to feel heard and listened to, at a time when they are already experiencing a loss of control. We are privileged to be able to offer homecare for these patients, giving them the highest standards of care from expert professionals, while in their own environment, surrounded by the people they want to be there.”

To find out more about accessing Saint Michael’s HOME service, please speak to a district nurse or GP.

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