The arrival of the new bright yellow car, which is adorned with Marie Curie Cancer Care’s iconic daffodil, 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. The programme was pioneered by Marie Curie Cancer Care for the benefit of all patients with palliative care needs, regardless of diagnosis.
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. Hayley 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.”
Philip Roberts, Fleet Sales Manager at Peugeot, said: “We’re really pleased to be helping the rapid response nurses in their crucial work. The Peugeot 1007 is exceptionally comfortable, and with the team spending so much time on the road, we hope it will make a long busy shift a little easier. And with so much driving involved in the nurses’ jobs, the fact that this car has achieved the highest-scoring 5-star safety score by Euro NCAP means that we’re also providing the safest possible vehicle for them.”
The other Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme interventions underway in Lincolnshire include a Palliative Care Co-ordination Centre which organises home care, and Discharge Community Link Nurses who are responsible for timely and coordinated discharge of patients from hospital. The project involves collaboration from a range of local health and social care providers including the British Heart Foundation, St Barnabas Hospice and GIFTS.
To find out more about the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme and its work in Lincolnshire, log on to www.deliveringchoiceprogramme.org.uk
Ends
For more information contact:
Rebecca Douglass, Communications Manager for the Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme, on 0207 599 7151 or at rebecca.douglass@mariecurie.org.uk
Notes to editors:
Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme
- The Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme, pioneered by Marie Curie Cancer Care, aims to provide the best possible services for palliative care in order to give terminally ill people the choice over where they are cared for and die. For most people, this choice is to die at home.
- The programme involves a partnership approach. Working with the NHS, social services and the voluntary sector, it works to understand the current state of services in specific project areas and redesign those that are inadequate, as well as introduce new services so that the specific palliative care needs of local communities are properly addressed.
- So far, the programme has three flagship projects up and running around the UK – in Lincolnshire, Tayside (Scotland), and Leeds – and, working towards national roll-out, plans to launch more in 2007.
- Launched in October 2004, the Lincolnshire project is the most advanced of the three, being well into implementation stages and making a significant difference to terminally ill patients across the county. The Palliative Care Coordination Centre, based at the East Midlands Ambulance Service Divisional Headquarters in Lincoln, coordinates packages of care for terminally ill patients at home. A Rapid Response Team, based at Boston Pilgrim Hospital, attends to patients in their homes between the hours of 3:00pm and 7:00am, while Discharge Community Link Nurses based in the Lincoln County and Boston Pilgrim Hospitals facilitate timely discharge of patients to their preferred place of care. Training and education initiatives for professionals are also underway to ensure high quality and appropriate delivery of care, as are a range of initiatives which provide support for carers including group sessions.
- Every project runs for three years, after which the view is to hand it over to the local partners to continue to be rolled out and maintained over the longer term.
- The programme reaches terminally ill patients with both cancer and non-cancer diagnoses.
- Since its inception in 2004, the programme has helped push palliative care up the political agenda, and the government’s proposals for End of Life Networks to be set up across England by 2009 are drawing inspiration from the programme.
- Research commissioned by Marie Curie Cancer Care has found that most people would like to be cared for at home (64%) or in a hospice (23%) if they were terminally ill, but the reality is that half of all patients still die in hospitals.
The Peugeot 1007
- The Peugeot 1007 is a modern Supermini, cleverly combining the interior space of traditionally larger cars with innovative electric-sliding front doors. Other notable features include adjustable-sliding rear seats, the highest-scoring 5-star safety score by Euro NCAP and an interchangeable 18-piece Cameleo interior trim.
Issued on March 22, 2007
