hospice at home?

[hifi]

Anyone had any experience of hospice at home?

My Dad is has terminal cancer and his Dr has suggested we contact Mcmillan.

My DGD had care at home before the final few days. He had a hospital bed in the living room. My DNan said the nurses were great. Sorry you're in this situation

That's good to know, thanks.

Macmillan do not give actual nursing care. Ask your gp to refer to Marie Curie if they work in your area.

Oh really? I didn't realise this. thanks

lobsterface so Mcmillan give practical care but MC give bodily care?

hifi I have sent you a pm if it helps explain things a bit, just been through this with df sadly x

MC have hands on nurses who will help mainly through the night but it depends where you live. There's also s help line so they'll be able to advise. They're brilliant - a lot of their work is also in research.

Macmillan are awesome too, they do benefits support, helpline, fund nursing posts for the first 3 years within the NHS but not the hands on nursing in the same form as Marie Curie.

Both will be able to support you in diffrrent ways, give MC a call, I don't think you can self refer but they'll point you in the right direction. Your local district nurse team might well work alongside MC too so your GP Should be advising.

I think all areas are different. In our area there didn't seem to be MacMillan just the hospice.

DH's consultant referred him to the hospice, initially for pain management, and we had a community support nurse practitioner. Then he had a stay there.
In his final days we had Hospice @ Home for 2 nights. A care assistant came between 10pm and 7am and spent the night in the next room (hospital bed in the playroom adjoining lounge). It enabled me to sleep knowing that someone was there for him, which enabled me to then get through the days. The 3rd night there wasn't anyone available and the 4th night they offered but at that point his death was imminent and I wasn't leaving him, so I decided the offer - they would have been of more use to someone else. Those 2 nights they did come were invaluable, he was failing but not imminent and I did need to sleep. I felt comfortable knowing someone was looking after him and would get me if he needed me.

Give the hospice a ring and see what they say.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones.

chasingsquirrels sorry for your loss. thanks so much for responding xx

I had support from Marie Curie in my dad's final days. The district nurses covered the days. They referred my dad to Marie Curie as I was having to call out of hours to top up pain relief. First night I got a qualified nurse who could give pain relief. They also have healthcare assistants who will sit up with the person but can't give any drugs. They just call out of hours.

Second night they couldn't send us anyone as they were fully booked and our need was seen as less than someone else. That was pretty shit as actually I did really need someone, but they are a stretched service.

After that night we were basically guaranteed a nurse for as long we needed. We had one more night and my dad died the next morning.

It is a great service. The nurse who came to us was a lovely man and really helped me emotionally as well as helping my dad. He prepared me for what was coming and was a lot more honest than others had been. My dad didn't want to go into hospital and I'm glad we spared him that.

My dad had Hospice at home in his final days, can't praise them enough.

I live away and was due to come up on the Thursday, on the Tuesday morning mum called to day the hospice nurse had said if I wanted to be there, I needed to come that day. I did and she was spot on, my dad passed away on the weds morning. She knew her job and I'll forever be grateful for that.

thanks so much everyone and so sorry for your losses. Nurses from the hospice came to assess him yesterday, reviewed his drugs and told my Dad what his options are.He's stable at the moment and hallucinating on the Morphine, we're not mentioning it to him though. Really appreciate all your responses.xx