THE MYTON Hospices has offered a much needed helping hand to the NHS.
Despite the immense pressure Myton has come under during the coronavirus crisis the charity continues to support the response to Covid-19 across Coventry and Warwickshire.
It includes handing over the Inpatient Unit at Warwick Myton Hospice to South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) as it prepares for a surge in patient numbers.
The 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 seven days a week from 8am to 8pm.
Myton also continues to do everything possible to provide the best end of life care, while protecting patients, staff and volunteers, and trying to ensure services across all sites are sustainable for the future.
Fund-raising income decreased by around 80 per cent. There has also been a dramatic reduction in the number of staff and volunteers available to deliver its services and limited financial support from the government.
As a result Myton has taken the difficult decision to temporarily move all of its Inpatient services to Coventry and has implemented alternative ways to deliver a number of outpatient services to ensure the best possible support.
The charity is also enhancing its 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 to 8pm, seven days a week.
The charity has enhanced its 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 Myton will also accept referrals over the phone to ease and speed up the process.
Myton has already been providing telephone and video calls for patients who previously attended its 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 said: “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.”
