As part of this we spoke to Myton at Home nurse, Maddy, who shares a touching story about a patient she met through working at Myton, both in Day Hospice and then with the Myton at Home team.
We think this shows what a positive difference accessing hospice services earlier on after being diagnosed with a terminal or life limiting illness can have.
Mr Singh had been attending Warwick Day Hospice regularly for several years and was always ‘the quiet one’ who kept himself to himself. One day he asked Maddy to go for a walk around the hospice gardens. He spoke to Maddy in Punjabi, telling her about his life, how proud he was of his family, about the business he built with his brothers, and to Maddy’s surprise, how he knew her grandfather!
They quickly built up a rapport and he asked Maddy to call him Uncle Ji rather than ‘Mr Singh’, which she was touched by as this is a term of endearment in Sikh culture.
Months later when Maddy was working in the Myton at Home team there was a referral for Mr Singh to be cared for at home.
Maddy explains:
Because of his experience of Myton he wanted to be cared for by Myton nurses in his home. He was taken home from hospital the very same day and he was cared for by us for a week before he died.
His family told us all about him, what he was like before he became more unwell. I explained I had met him when he was a Day Hospice patient and how he had told me all about his life and family. It meant a lot to the family that he already knew me; it was reassuring for them at such a difficult time.
Patients who are in their last two to four weeks of life are cared for by our Myton at Home team. For some people, being in the comfort of their own home is where they choose to die and our nursing teams feel incredibly privileged to be able to fulfil this for them.
You can find out more about our Myton at Home service here