Happy New Year from all of us at The Myton Hospices!
Hello,
I hope that you had the best possible Christmas and that you were able to spend it with the people who matter most to you. In times of such uncertainty it’s comforting to spend time with those we love and focus on the things that really count – which includes, of course remembering those we love who are sadly no longer with us. I was fortunate enough to be with my husband and children and despite all of the colds and various illnesses we had between us I know how lucky I am to have been able to spend time with them.
In thinking about those important to us I’m mindful of all of the people like you who care about Myton and who make our work with patients and families possible and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you personally for your consistent interest in, and support of our organisation. It is because of you that we have been able to achieve so much in recent difficult times and that we can feel a great deal of optimism in the future.
As we face the possibilities and challenges of a new year ahead I thought it important that I should share with you some of the work you have made possible over the last 12 months – helping us to move towards supporting at least as many patients and their carer’s as we did before the pandemic. So here’s some of the highlights:
- We helped more patients and their families to make special memories at our hospices, including a visit from Penguins Widget and Pringle and a video call from actor Tom Hardy
- Inpatient numbers are steadily increasing – between January and March 2022 we admitted 112 patients into our Inpatient Units compared to 163 between September and November 2022.
Occupancy has also improved from 68.2% in 19/20 to 83.2% in 22/23 – meaning we are keeping our beds as full as we can - Our Myton at Home team supported 28 patients during the first 3 months of 2022 compared to 38 during the latest 3 months.
- Our Wellbeing Service has supported 316 people compared to 163 supported via the Day Hospices during the same period in 19/20
- Our Counselling Service has supported 287 people so far in 22/23 compared to 200 in 19/20
- Our Lymphoedema team has supported 311 patients compared to 202 in 19/20
There have been lots of other achievements during the year too, here’s just a few:
- Our Wellbeing services have been developed and are now active on all 3 Myton sites
- We ran a successful Nursing and Care recruitment programme, and we will be at required staffing levels by the end of January to have 36 beds consistently available
- We extended our Myton at Home team hours from 8am to 4.30pm to 8am to 8pm to facilitate an extra visit each day and ensure we can support more patients and their families into the evening
- We introduced Clinical Nurse Practitioners into Myton at Home and onto our Inpatient Units to increase the number of our clinical staff who can prescribe medication to patients and support our Medical team
- We ran a GP Information Hub pilot in Coventry which aims to take information about our services directly to where people need them at the point they are told their illness cannot be cured – this was successful and is now being extended
- We opened our first Support Hub at our hospice in Rugby – which now combines our Wellbeing services with services from, and signposting to, other providers who can support our patients. This is still a pilot but early signs are encouraging
- We progressed with the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospices working together project to improve equity of Hospice at Home services across Warwickshire
- In recognition of the additional pressures on our staff we employed our first Staff Wellbeing Officer
So it’s been a year for us all to be proud of and without your support, and our wonderful staff and volunteers, this simply wouldn’t have been possible.
We have big plans for 2023 and hope you will continue to be alongside us every step of the way as we aim to:
- Reintroduce Respite beds to give families a break and employ an activities Co-ordinator to ensure that patients can get the most out of the time they spend with us
- Have 36 beds consistently available across both Inpatient Units
- Increase our work in the community including a range of new ways to get information out to the public and patients, starting with piloting an information Hub in one of our Rugby shops
- Continue to expand our Myton at Home Service
- Expand our bereavement services to include families where the patient has not been cared for by Myton
- Support the needs of more carers and families
- Explore the benefits of providing non- clinical advice for patients and families, including financial advice
- Continue our collaborative work with other hospices and healthcare providers
It has been a tough year but the rewards have been significant – when patients and their families tell us the difference our care has made it strengthens our commitment to reaching more people who need our services and we are confident that with your support and that of our amazing community we can achieve everything that we have set out to.
Thank you again from all of us at Myton, our patients and their families and one last wish from me that 2023 is kind to you.
Ruth Freeman, CEO