The Myton Hospices will continue to support the response to Covid-19 across Coventry & Warwickshire and will assist NHS colleagues by introducing a number of new measures and making Warwick Myton Hospice available to South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT).
Despite the immense pressure Myton has come under since the Coronavirus outbreak we are doing everything we can to continue to provide the best end of life care, whilst protecting our patients, staff & volunteers, and trying to ensure that services across all sites are sustainable for the future.
We have seen fundraising income decrease by around 80%, a dramatic reduction in the number of staff & volunteers available to deliver our services and limited financial support from the government.
As a result we have taken the difficult decision to temporarily move all of our Inpatient services to Coventry and have implemented alternative ways to deliver a number of outpatient services to ensure the best possible support for our local community and stakeholders.
Our Inpatient Unit at Warwick Myton Hospice will be handed over to SWFT as they prepare for a surge in patient numbers. Our Warwick Myton at Home team will continue to be based at the hospice, and will be on hand to support NHS colleagues.
The remainder of staff from Warwick will be transferred to Coventry Myton Hospice to maximise the number of Inpatient beds in operation there.
There will be 20 beds available for people across the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire and admissions will be extended to 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm.
We are also enhancing our Myton at Home service in Rugby and South Warwickshire to support rapid discharge of all patients identified as being in the last days or weeks of life whose preferred place of death is at home.
This service will now include a registered nurse which is not normally part of the provision and will operate 8am – 8pm, seven days a week.
We have enhanced our telephone support services to provide a 24 hour clinical advice line manned by specialist palliative care nurses and doctors for patients, their families and GPs across the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire, and an additional advice and support line specifically aimed at care home staff in the region.
Referrals for all Myton services will go through a single point of access and we will also accept referrals over the phone to ease and speed up the process.
We have already been providing telephone and video calls for patients who previously attended our Day Unit and other outpatient services, and will continue to do so to ensure they do not feel isolated and are supported during the lockdown period. Services such as counselling and Lymphoedema will also be delivered remotely.
Myton’s CEO, Ruth Freeman, adds:
In these unprecedented and challenging times, as experts in palliative care and a much-relied on local charity, we recognise the important role we have to play in supporting the people of Coventry and Warwickshire and our NHS and healthcare colleagues. We are delighted that South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust can utilise our beds to respond to the crisis.
I would like to say a massive thank you to all of our staff, volunteers and supporters for making this possible.