ELLENOR’S NIGHT SITTING SERVICE ENHANCING HOME BASED END OF LIFE CARE

In a significant enhancement to its end-of-life care services, ellenor secured short funding to establish a Night Sitting Service. This initiative aims to deliver continuous high-quality care to patients with life-limiting illnesses, and their families in the Dartford, Bexley, Gravesham and Swanley communities. This service supports those who choose to spend their final days in the familiar comfort of their own homes, rather than in a hospital or hospice setting.

“Our night sitting service offers crucial support to our patients and their families ensuring they can spend their final moments in the comfort of their own homes with dignity. By providing continuous, compassionate care throughout the night, we help alleviate the distress and anxiety that often accompanies these critical times” says Linda Cahill, ellenor’s Operational Lead Adult Community Services

This brand-new service will be available to 357 of ellenor’s Kent and Bexley-based patients, and their families, facing life-limiting illness: specifically, patients who have expressed a preference to die at home, rather than in a hospital or inpatient hospice setting.

The service will prioritise clients and carers who the team identify as likely to struggle to cope with such a demanding time without additional support.

Through having a team member trained in providing end of life care at the patient’s home between 10pm and 6am when required during the last two or three days of their life, ellenor’s Night Sitting Service will, effectively, enable access to 24-hour care for patients close to passing away. This care involves managing the symptoms associated with end-of-life – including pain, nausea, and shortness of breath – as well as comfort and companionship during what can be an agitating, anxious time.

Vitally, ellenor’s Night Sitting Service also enables continuity of care: ensuring consistency in how the client’s condition and changing needs are monitored and responded to, as well as offering the patient a sense of comfort and security.

“With someone there to offer advice, information, and access to spiritual care and comfort, the Night Sitting Service will also provide vital support for the patient’s loved ones, too – so they never feel like they’re facing such a challenging time alone. This includes respite care, which allows the patient’s carers and loved ones some time away from their main duties, and to benefit from a bit of much-needed rest” explains Linda Cahill.

Crucially, ellenor’s Night Sitting Service will also help reduce the need for patients and their families to call an ambulance in the last days of their life – something, ellenor has identified, that 13% of community-based patients do. An ambulance call typically results in the patient’s hurried, stressful transfer to the A&E, and in hospital admissions that aren’t just unnecessary – but may mean the experience of end of life is not what they or their family wished for,

By contrast, ellenor’s Night Sitting Service means a professional will be present, even during the middle of the night. They can provide on-site, real-time assistance: helping alleviate doubt, prevent panic, and recommend the best course of action should any issues or complications arise.

The Night Sitting Service will also ensure that the patient’s wishes (as outlined, in advance, through an Advanced Care Plan and the ReSPECT document; of which 82% of ellenor patients have completed), will be fulfilled. This allows the patient to die, with dignity, in the place of their choosing. It’s a ‘good death’ – at home, surrounded by friends and family; as peace-filled and pain-free as possible.

What’s more, both local GPs and the NHS will be able to refer patients to ellenor’s Night Service – helping the hospice charity reduce the number of people who die in UK hospitals.

I had complete confidence in the nurse so was able to sleep deeply and solidly. I can cope with most things when I am not tired. So, the world today looks a much nicer place.

As the Night Sitting Service rolls out, ellenor will seek feedback through a range of channels – including end-of-service satisfaction surveys, with the aim of evidencing the service benefits and therefore securing long term funding and through a complaints/compliments/suggestions system – to constantly revise and optimise the service for carers, patients, and their families. Recognising that long-term funding is uncertain, this brand new service will be supported by temporary funding. ellenor will also consult with local service providers and GPs, host “your say” events with patients, families, volunteers, and the local community, and work with underrepresented communities to ensure a sensitive, culturally competent approach.

ellenor is also committed to monitoring the Night Sitting Service every quarter, and to sharing key findings with the local hospice community. ellenor – the first hospice in Kent to provide accredited end-of-life care courses – also has plans to integrate lessons from the Night Sitting Service’s first months into its diverse array of training courses for local healthcare professionals.

Initially, ellenor’s existing bank of staff will cover the Night Sitting Service; allowing the hospice charity to advertise for, recruit, and train a mixture of paid support workers and volunteers to deliver the service ongoing. The Night Sitting Service is part of ellenor’s Strategic Plan for 2024-2027, which focuses on delivering high quality, bespoke, and inclusive support for people with life-limiting illnesses; as well as meeting the growing demand for specialist palliative and end-of-life care services within the Kent and Bexley communities.