Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice in Moggerhanger is calling on its service users, their family and friends to provide feedback on the care it provides, in a bid to enhance the services it offers.
The hospice, which has been serving the local communities for over a decade, offers specialist palliative care at home and 24-hour phone line support, lymphoedema clinic, family support service, and an inpatient unit.
The hospice will be launching a new Service User Participation Group in the Spring and is urging those who have benefited from its services to contribute their experiences and opinions.
Alice Green, Head of Clinical Services at Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice said, “We are committed to ensuring that everyone who accesses Sue Ryder services is listened and responded to so that they receive high quality, personalised care.
“Our service users have a unique contribution to make as they are experts by experience in addition to the other skills, qualities or knowledge they have. We want their voices, experience and support to shape and direct our activity.”
The new Service User Participation Group aims to involve service users at all levels of decision-making, including staff recruitment.
Laura Beer, whose father was cared for by Sue Ryder teams in the final days of his life, praised the hospice’s support for her family and said, “We had help from Sue Ryder and they were amazing, not just at looking after my dad but also at looking after my mum and me.
“We simply wouldn’t have coped without them.
“Dad was with one of the Sue Ryder team at the end. They were such a great support to us and I knew I wanted something good to come out of the bad.
“As a society, we don’t focus enough on what happens at the end of life because it’s a bit taboo, but it shouldn’t be,” Laura added.
Alice invites anyone who is interested in joining the Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice – Service User Participation Group to contact them via email at contact.stjohns@sueryder.org or by phone at 01767 642410.
Joining the group virtually or in person is available to suit everyone’s convenience, and Alice is excited to welcome everyone interested in making a positive impact on the hospice’s services.
As Laura said, “If we can make that journey easier for the people going through it and their loved ones, then we should.”
