Award nomination boost for Dr Kershaw's

Dr Kershaw's Hospice has been short-listed for a prestigious national award for its Hospice at Home service.

The Royton-based Hospice is as a finalist in the Nursing Times Awards 2018 ‘nursing in the community’ category.

The Hospice will now send a team to London to appear before a judging panel in September before the glittering awards night reveals the winners at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on October 31.

Lindsey Harper, Community Services lead at Dr Kershaw’s said: “To be a finalist in such a distinguished set of awards is a fantastic achievement for the whole team of staff here at the Hospice who have embraced the changing world of end-of-life care to make it possible for people to stay in their own homes if that is their wish.”

Joanne Sloan, chief executive, said she was delighted that Lindsey and the team had been recognised for their efforts and also thanked the Stoller Charitable Trust and the Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group for having the belief in the Hospice team by providing match funding to run a pilot scheme.

The pilot was a soaraway success – so much so that after two years of the three-year pilot (2016 and 2017) Oldham CCG delivered funding to cement the service into what the Hospice has to offer.

Since the consolidation of the Hospice at Home service the team at Turf Lane have now gone on to launch Kershaw’s Caring Hands as a community care pilot to help get patients with life-limiting illnesses out of hospital and back into their own homes.

“We want to build on our reputation to be the carer of choice for end of life care in Oldham and we have the fantastic backing of the people of Oldham who time and again step up to the mark when raising the considerable funds required to deliver the very best for those who need our care," said Joanne.

“I could not be more proud of the Hospice than I am at present.

"To be short-listed by the Nursing Times is a major boost to everybody involved in the organisation –  staff, volunteers and supporters.”

The other finalists in the category are:

·         Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

·         Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

·         Cambridge University Hospitals FT

·         Central Cheshire Integrated Care Partnership 

·         Coloplast

·         Dr Kershaw's Hospice

·         King's College Hospital FT

·         Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital FT

·         North Tees and Hartlepool FT

·         Nottinghamshire Fracture Liaison & Osteoporosis Service

·         Southern Health and Social Care Trust

·         Spectrum Community Health CIC