Severn Hospice patients determined to live life to the full

Patients, staff and volunteers at the Severn Hospice are all singing from the same hymn sheet this week, Hospice Care Week.

They make it clear that the hospice is a place for improving quality of life, whether those who benefit are staying at the hospice or just visiting for the day.

The Severn Hospice, which has bases in Telford and Shrewsbury, has taken the opportunity of Hospice Care Week this week to emphasise their day services, or what they can do for people who live with terminal illnesses in the community, as well as those who stay at the hospice.

A prime example is one of the regular coffee mornings that have become a fixture in recent years, when the hospice invites anyone who might benefit from the wide range of services they can be referred to – therapies, counselling, or just a good chat over cake and a coffee.

Day services include wellbeing workshops, tailored healthcare education, complementary therapies, make-up sessions, music and creative workshops. Experts from other health and community services and charities also regularly drop by to give advice.

The nurses can refer those who want it to services such as Outreach nurses, social workers, nurses, healthcare assistants, creative therapists, complementary therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

Jeff Trumper, 60, lives with prostate cancer. He was diagnosed in 2016 and the cancer has since spread into his bones. He has also had a heart transplant and kidney transplant.

"I'm what doctors call a complicated case," he joked.

He started visiting the day unit in February and now looks forward to his regular trips from his home in Newport.

This week his doting daughter Hannah, who normally works on Tuesdays, has been able to make it to the coffee morning and chat to her dad's many friends at the hospice.

Jeff said: "I love the coffee mornings here, I've been coming since February. I find them so relaxing, you get to know different people.

"It's like a family here. You know everyone.

"The volunteers are amazing and the staff are amazing. Without the volunteers we wouldn't be here.

"There's a lovely, relaxed atmosphere here.

"It's not like a hospital."

"You're a person, not a number," interjected Hannah, and Jeff enthusiastically agreed.

"Nothing is too much trouble," he continued.

"It is a shame that it relies on volunteers because I'm sure it saves the health service millions with all the volunteers."

Hannah said: "Without them I think dad would have been in a dark hole, they lift him out of it.

"He wants to keep going, you come to the hospice to live, not to die.

"The doctors are lovely. He looks forward to coming every week."

Jeff said: "A lot of people do tend to think hospices as when you're dying, but you come here to live."

Four out of five of the hospice's patients are cared for in their homes, while others receive day services or ward care in Shrewsbury and Telford.

Emma Brandon is the team leader of the day services units at the Apley site, where she has worked for the last 10 years. In all she has worked for the hospice for 20 years.

She is keen on the coffee mornings, which she said has opened up the range of hospice services available to people who can drop in for an afternoon.

"Over the last two or three years there have been massive changes to the day service and we do a lot more stuff. We do these coffee mornings which have really taken off.

"A lot of people are very isolated in their own homes and it is an opportunity for them to come and meet other people, but also have access to the services that the hospice offers if they need it."

Graham Riley and Linda Poole are both volunteers with almost 50 years of experience at the hospice between them.

At the hospice in Apley they can usually be seen serving coffees and cakes, or furiously scrubbing up dishes and cups.

Graham, 76, joined the hospice after he retired in 1997, having worked as an engineer in Nigeria and Malta.

He is thrilled about the changes the hospice has made, doing more to invite people in to the centres to access services.

"It's totally different now. It's changed but it's changed for the best. I don't think we've taken a backwards step.

"I feel humbled when I come here to volunteer."

Linda, 69, has climbed Ben Nevis and Snowdon for the hospice and also sells homemade cards to raise money.

"We reach a lot more people now by doing the coffee mornings, I think it's amazing.

"People think it's a depressing place, it's not. It's not a depressing place to work, it's a lovely place.

"It's lovely that we reach far more people than we used to. One week we might have 50 people that come in to the day service, they might tell 50 more people and it spreads."