Duchess of Kent House opens its doors to local MP

On Friday 13th January, MP for Reading West Alok Sharma visited Sue Ryder-Duchess of Kent House in Reading to see at first hand the excellent facilities at the Liebenrood Road hospice.

During his visit, Alok heard how the 15-bed in-patient unit, day therapy centre and out-patient clinic at the Sue Ryder-Duchess of Kent House provides a wide range of specialist palliative care services to support people and their families living with life-limiting illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Alok met Heather Aldridge, area palliative care services manager for Sue Ryder in Berkshire West, who explained how the hospice works:

“People usually stay as in-patients for short admissions of one to two weeks. This enables us to offer round-the-clock assessment and specialist care to help manage symptoms. Alongside the inpatient facilities patients can also be supported at home through day therapy. The team of medical, nursing and other health professionals work together to meet physical, psychological and spiritual needs, to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients whose disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment.”

This was Alok’s first in-depth visit since Berkshire West Primary Care Trust (PCT) transferred all of its specialist palliative care services to Sue Ryder in April 2011 – one of the first examples of NHS services being transferred on this scale to a charity as part of the government’s reforms to streamline health services.

Speaking after his visit Alok said: “It was a pleasure to visit Sue Ryder-Duchess of Kent House for a tour of the facilities and to find out about the services offered to patients. The hospice offers a wide range of specialist palliative services which are extremely important for patients and their families.”

Heather Aldridge said: “One of the key objectives for Sue Ryder of the transfer was to work in partnership with Berkshire West PCT to build on the excellent specialist palliative care services already in place and improve access and increased support for patients in the Berkshire West communities. And in the past nine months this partnership has gone from strength to strength with several new service developments coming to fruition at Sue Ryder-Duchess of Kent House.”

Among the service developments achieved in recent months are:

• Access to face-to-face assessments by a specialist seven days a week by increasing the community nursing service from a five-day-a-week service to seven
• Additional medical consultant support in both the community and the acute hospital
• An increase in the number of specialist palliative care inpatient beds from 12 to 15.

The need to support carers was also on today’s agenda, and Alok found out more about Sue Ryder’s befriending service, which is funded by money raised by Duchess of Kent House Charity. This vital service helps carers by giving them a bit of time to have a break from caring and to have some time to themselves. And by giving the patient a couple of hours of time to share an activity or that all important listening ear, befrienders help alleviate isolation and give patients and their carers a better quality of life.

Alok said: “The six million or more carers in the country are an incredibly important part of our care system and they play a vital role, often in challenging circumstances. It is key that we recognise this and provide carers with the support they need to continue the work they do, and provisions such as Sue Ryder’s befriending service really make a difference for carers.”

Photo: Alok arrives at Sue Ryder-Duchess of Kent House to be greeted by Sue Ryder’s head of policy Blanche Jones (left) and Heather Aldridge, area palliative care services manager for Sue Ryder in Berkshire West.