James, 69, was a heart failure patient, admitted to Pilgrim hospital, Boston, Lincolnshire, in May 2006 after he had collapsed at home
His prognosis was poor and his condition deteriorated so much that he was only expected to have weeks left to live.
James lived had been married for 35 years and had three grown-up children. As he had always taken care of his family, he was now finding it difficult to deal with the fact that he would not be able to provide for them any more.
Caroline, the Discharge Community Link Nurse working in the hospital, met with James and his family on a number of occasions. While James was at first reluctant to accept any help, he soon realised that his wife was unable to cope and Caroline was able to talk about this with them and to discuss their options. The family needed quite a lot of emotional support to come to terms with his diagnosis and prognosis.
James felt very strongly that he wanted to be at home and said: “I’m not going to live very long, all I want to do is be able to lie in bed and have a cuddle with my wife”.
Caroline arranged home care and support for James and his family on discharge, by working in collaboration with a range of community-based organisations. He needed home care three times per day because his mobility was very poor and this was provided by carers from St. Barnabas Hospice At Home, who assisted him with personal care in the morning and afternoon and also provided support for his family. James was on continuous oxygen, which was installed at home. The District Nurse and Macmillan Nurse were also involved and visited him regularly.
Caroline visited James on the day of discharge and he was so pleased to be home. Later, the family sent a letter to Caroline, which read:
"Thank you so much for your kindness and professionalism in helping us to get James home. He had a peaceful and dignified death with his family surrounding him. It meant the world to us.”
