At Myton we believe that everyone matters for every single moment of their life and we focus on enhancing life when cure is no longer an option. This means death and more importantly living well for longer is always at the forefront of our minds and our work, and especially engaging people in discussion surrounding palliative and end of life care.
In our everyday practice we work closely with a variety of different groups to enhance the lives of patients with a terminal or life limiting illness and their families. By working with other organisations we hope to extend our services to more people earlier on in their diagnosis as well as reaching a more diverse range of people.
During Dying Matters Week our Community Engagement Manager, Olivia, will be at St Cross Hospital in Rugby and Warwick Hospital raising awareness and educating healthcare professionals about the breadth of services we offer so that they can help us to reach more people when they need us most.
We have also been working closely with UHCW and have provided a blog post for them to use about The Myton Hospices as part of their programme. On Friday 18th May from 1pm – 2pm the Palliative Care team at UHCW, including Dr Sarah MacLaran and Dr Richard Kitchen, will be delivering a Grand Round session entitled ‘Dying Matters. What can you do? Stories to set you thinking.’ By working with other organisations we hope to extend our services to more people earlier on in their diagnosis as well as reaching a more diverse range of people.
Clinical Psychologist, James Parker, is also heavily involved in the SWFT Dying Matters activity and will be posing questions about Death and Dying at Warwick Hospital to spark conversation, James will also be leading a Death and Cake session with staff at Shakespeare Hospice.
We have also been working collaboratively in North Warwickshire, led by Deputy Director of Nursing and Care Kristy Clayton, with Mary Ann Evans Hospice, North Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group, George Eliot Hospital and the King Edward VI College culminating in an art and drama event produced by students from the King Edward VI College on Thursday 17th May at 6.30pm.
Facebook Live Q&A
On Wednesday 16th May at 1pm we will be doing a Facebook Live Q&A session with our CEO and Medical Director asking them questions about death and dying such as ‘What would your epitaph be?’ and ‘If you were planning your funeral what would you include?’ Talking about death and dying isn’t easy but we hope that we can encourage more people to do so, so that in the future fewer people are reluctant to have these conversations.
By taking part in Dying Matters Week we are helping to raise awareness about the support we offer as well as initiating conversations that some people may find difficult or challenging. Dying Matters Week helps people to start thinking about advance care planning so they have choice and control, and can plan for the future.
To find out more about any of the services offered by Myton please click here.