St Luke’s speak in Parliament of their pioneering work
St Luke’s (Cheshire) Hospice representatives went to Parliament last week to talk about the pioneering outreach work of St Luke’s. Whilst it is a hospice for the care of the terminally ill with only fourteen beds, St Luke’s does a great deal more work within the community.
Rachel Zammit, Macmillan End of Life Public Health Lead and Siobhan Horton, Head of Clinical Services at St Luke’s Hospice were invited to the Palace of Westminster. They were joined by six volunteers who work at the St Luke’s Community Outreach at Lawton Memorial Hall, Church Lawton. The St Luke’s representatives were invited by Congleton constituency MP Fiona Bruce and given the opportunity to speak about their innovative approach to death, dying to MPs and members of the House of Lords after Fiona had visited and been impressed by the work of St Luke’s and Lawton Outreach work.
They presented their ideas at the Parliamentary Group for “Dying Well”, chaired by Baroness Finlay. The theme of the talk Rachel Zammit gave in Parliament to the group, of which Fiona is a member, was about how St Luke’s are doing pioneering work in the approach to living and dying well, treating it as a public health issue.The approach being developed by St Luke’s is aiming to encourage us to look at dying as a natural part of the human life cycle and break down the barriers to talking about dying.
Rachel Zammit said, “We are extremely pleased to have been given the opportunity to raise the profile of the exciting approach we are developing in Cheshire. We are used to making the link between our lifestyle choices and our health in other areas, such as diet, exercise and smoking, but don’t normally think about how the way we live can also affect the way we age, grieve and die. Death is a part of life for us all, young and old alike and the approach will encompass that thinking…it is about living well and dying well”.
Siobhan Horton said, “I was deeply impressed by the considerate attention shown to the group by Fiona Bruce.”
“In order to have a ‘good’ death it is essential that we face the issue and talk to each other, so that those who will care for us know what our wishes are which in turn reduces the stress on them and on a practical level means that what support is needed can be planned and put in place. Things like the need for help with completing paperwork or with fetching the shopping, walking the dog or someone to simply be a friend and a listening ear. This is exactly the type of support that St Luke’s Community Outreach is now providing in the Alsager area.”
A day centre is run at Lawton Memorial Hall for two days a week where ladies (and men) give elderly people a lunch, massage, hobbies of interest etc to improve quality of life, at the end of life.
Baroness Finlay, Chair of the group, said “I was most impressed both with the presentation by St Luke’s and with the valuable outreach work which their volunteers are undertaking. This is a key way forward for hospice work throughout the country with our increasingly elderly population.”
