St Elizabeth Hospice and East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) are reflecting on a successful 2020-21, after the partnership delivered free specialist palliative care to more than 1,200 patients and their families in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

The joint initiative launched in April 2019, with the aim of bringing greater parity in the levels and range of care available to the communities of Great Yarmouth and Waveney in comparison to the rest of the region.

Since being established in 2019, more than 2,000 people have been supported by the partnership, while in 2020-21 alone,1,231 patients and their families were directly cared for via the service’s 24-hour advice line OneCall, at Beccles Hospital, in the community across Waveney and Great Yarmouth or received support through the hospice’s emotional, wellbeing and bereavement support service, LivingGrief.

Hanna McDowell, Head of Therapies and Community Care Unit at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “Over the last two years it has been a privilege to work together with ECCH to make a real difference to patients and their families in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

“During this time we have made a lot of progress but we are both committed to continuing this service provision and to evolve our support, in order to help more patients and their families through difficult times in their lives.

“Most importantly, we are encouraging anyone in the region who is living with life-limiting condition or who has a loved one who has recently been diagnosed with an illness that requires palliative care, to get in touch. Our teams are here to support you and to provide guidance and care, whenever and wherever it is needed.”

As part of the collaboration between the two organisations, St Elizabeth Hospice provides specialist consultant support to six palliative care beds in Beccles Hospital, which is run by ECCH. The service also offers community care unit facilities, therapy services via occupational therapists and physiotherapists,  clinical nurse specialists to visit patients in their own homes as well as emotional wellbeing and bereavement support.

ECCH’s Executive Director of Operations, Adele Madin, said: “We are so pleased our partnership with St Elizabeth Hospice has enabled us to make a real difference to people with palliative care needs in Great Yarmouth and Waveney, and that we have managed to not only maintain, but increase the numbers of patients we have been able to support over the last year, despite the pandemic.

“We will be building on what we have achieved so far as we look to evolve the service and ensure local people continue to receive the highest quality palliative care.”

In the coming months, there are plans to increase the capacity for day facilities and also develop the Compassionate Communities work that has been undertaken, engaging local communities in coming together to support each other, working in partnership to continue to help more people living with life-limiting conditions in these communities.

For more information about the partnership’s services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney visit www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/how-we-can-help/hospice-care/great-yarmouth_and-waveney.

To contact the 24-hour specialist palliative care advice line, OneCall, call 0800 567 0111.