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Abstract
Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, we gathered feedback from staff, volunteers, patients and carers to reinvigorate our Wellbeing Centre. Our vision is to provide an accessible wellbeing programme and centre, striving for an inclusive, informative and beneficial service to Dougie Mac patients, their carers and families, and external partners supporting people with a life-limiting or palliative illness.
The Wellbeing Centre’s aims and objectives ensure that each person is seen as an individual; comfort and wellbeing is maximized; care is coordinated; each person has fair access to care.
We categorise support activities into four focuses: (1) Social; (2) Physical and mobility; (3) Clinical/condition specific; (4) Information. Within our programme, we assigned our current 32 programmes to the five ways to wellbeing: Social; Physical; Emotional; Spiritual; Mental.
We believe that by aligning our work to these focuses and categories we are able to meet individuals’ needs. Our Wellbeing Newsletter keeps patients and carers up to date. We identified challenges and barriers to accessing the hospice-based programme, introducing innovative solutions:
IPU Buddies: There remains a social isolation challenge for patients on our inpatient units. We introduced a team of volunteers who provide wellbeing support daily to inpatients.
Community Centres: Some patients are unable to join the hospice–based programme: ‘hospice’ scares people, transport/financial implications. We introduced Community Centres collaboratively with our Palliative Care Nurse Specialist team, delivering four fortnightly groups in different areas. PCNSs deliver clinics and wellbeing staff provide holistic wellbeing support. Our aim is to introduce 10 groups by 2026 due to their success.
Condition Specific Programmes. Delivered in partnership with the NHS – monthly clinics held in the Wellbeing Centre: MND, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Parkinson’s and Cancer support. Provides opportunities for those with the same condition to have 1:1 clinics and wellbeing holistic support.