“My role is within the Hospice Community Team, where I am a Specialist Practitioner in Palliative Care. That means that I visit patients at home, and I usually have between 30 and 40 patients on my caseload. Most of our hospice care is actually delivered at home, rather than on our inpatient unit.

Jason was the youngest patient I’ve cared for in my time at St Wilfrid’s. Jason was a very strong young man, with a high pain threshold and a high tolerance to medication. He was having high doses of medication to manage his symptoms. Jo, Jason’s wife, had a brilliant relationship with our community nurses, and we did actually use a local policy which allows us to train family members to give medications. We trained Jo to give one-off doses if Jason needed pain relief at night, which she was amazing at, as they were a young couple who had only just got married. I was always pleased to support them both, even when Odin the puppy wanted to get involved with my visits!

Our role is to respond to the patient where they are at that time, and the loved ones and family that surround them. The patient’s life experience and attitude to life is a huge determiner in the way they approach their disease. Someone like Jason will approach it as a battle. The word warrior was used at least three times during his funeral, and it describes how he approached his life.

Our assessment starts the moment we put the handbrake on and get out of the car. We never really know how a patient will be when we are knocking on the door. Being diagnosed with a life limiting or terminal illness doesn’t change the way that families interact, or stop daily life, it can just put more pressure on. We also have lots of garden gate moments, when someone from the family or the patient themselves follows us out to the car to ask us some more questions or to have a private chat.

That’s why I love my job. Each patient and their situation is different. It’s all about what that patient needs at that time.