Marie Curie Nurses and Healthcare Assistants will use the car to attend to patients with life-limiting illnesses in their homes out of hours. The arrival of the car, which has been kindly donated by Peugeot, also coincides with the team’s first anniversary.
The Rapid Response Team, which covers Boston, South Holland and surrounding areas, is one of many pilot interventions introduced by the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme to improve the provision of palliative care for terminally ill patients and enable them to choose their place of care – which is usually in the comfort of their own homes.
During its first year of operation, the Rapid Response Team has cared for 444 individual patients, and made a total of 1,415 visits to patients in their homes. The team also provides psychological support and advice to patients and carers over the phone.
Louise Price, Rapid Response Team Manager, said:
“We are grateful to Peugeot for supplying the car for our use. The team often covers a great deal of ground in just one shift attending to patients – so it’s fantastic to have this high quality car to help the team perform its important role. Having a branded vehicle will also help raise our profile in the local community.
“Our Rapid Response Team provides patients and carers with a peace of mind that there is someone there out of hours to help if needed. We also help to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions by getting to patients quickly – our average response time being 22 minutes – and dealing with problems there and then.”
One of the patients that the team was able to help was Marcus Hart of Spalding, who had bowel cancer and wished to be cared for and die in the comfort of his own home. He was cared for by his wife, Hayley, who said:
“Marcus wanted to be at home with me – hospital was the last place he wanted to be. He didn’t need regular nursing care, as I was able to care for him myself, but it was wonderful to know that the Rapid Response Team was there to call on out of hours should Marcus experience any difficulties.
“The team came around several times to help Marcus with pain relief and administer medication. They also gave me lots of support as his carer. I was by Marcus’ side when he died at home last August, which meant the world to both of us.”
Pictured: Rapid Response Team welcomes its first dedicated vehicle: Louise Hill (back seat), Sue Smith (driver’s seat) and Karen Playford (front passenger seat).
March 2007
