As part of Dying Matters Week, Birmingham Hospice hosted Time To Care – an event bringing together health professionals, community partners and supporters from across Birmingham and Solihull to discuss the future of end of life care.
It was an opportunity to showcase our new Specialist Palliative Urgent Response (SPUR) service which, since January, has been providing 24/7 expert end of life support and care for people in their own homes.
Kerry Millard, Head of Clinical Services Outpatients, and SPUR Lead Nurse Kellie Owen explained how the service works and the impact it has already had in reducing avoidable hospital admissions and allowing people to remain at home surrounded by loved ones in their final days.
A short film was played featuring Shannon Freeman and her Dad Robert who called SPUR for help during the night and received help and support from the team at home within two hours.
Shannon said: “Because of how much discomfort Dad was in, I don’t know what we would have done without SPUR. You could see in his face and his whole body was trembling from the amount of pain he was in so I think we would have struggled to be honest.”
Robert added: “Overnight care is a big help because it’s a long time between when you go to bed and when you get up in the morning. So if there’s someone to help you get rid of your pain or anguish, it’s just great, it does help people.”
After the presentations, round table discussions were held where attendees discussed the promotion of SPUR and how it may evolve.
Lucy Watkins, Income Generation Director at Birmingham Hospice said: “Time to Care brought together healthcare professionals, business representatives and community leaders from across Birmingham for incredibly valuable conversations about the future of end of life care.
“The feedback on SPUR was overwhelmingly positive, with many attendees describing the service as vital and sharing personal experiences of how support like this would have made a real difference when caring for loved ones.
“It was encouraging to hear so many ideas about how we can further promote and grow the service to reach more people who need it. The passion and collaboration in the room showed a shared commitment to improving end of life care across our city.”
Professor Upkar Singh Pardesi, Chairman of the Niksham Civic Association and Patron of Birmingham Hospice said: “I can see tonight there is real potential for us all to work together to spread the word about the SPUR service. It’s filling a gap that we all know exists especially in urgent response during the night.”
Meanwhile Fiona Latham, who is part of The Bra-B-Q annual charity event set up by a group of friends in Sutton Coldfield commented: “I’m just amazed how quickly this has come together and the service you are providing for patients.
“Our friend Fran received incredible care at Birmingham Hospice and she passed away at home which was her choice. I’m sure if Fran had had the SPUR service at night, it would have made things so much easier. This is amazing.”
