A hospice is a specialist centre for supporting people with a terminal illness – that is an illness that is not responsive to curative treatment.
Nowadays hospices tend to care for people with very complicated needs for a short time to enable these problems to be helped and to enable them to be discharged back home.
The Hospice provides In-Patient care but is not just a building: St Gemma’s is a friendly, warm and safe place at the heart of the local community with a large range of expert services to support patients, their families and friends, both in the Hospice and in the community.
This depends on the patient’s particular needs. There is no minimum or maximum length of stay.
The average length of stay is about two weeks. The Hospice does not offer long-term care as this is a service that is offered by other services in Leeds such as care homes, however, some patients do sometimes stay longer than usual because of very complicated and changing needs.
No, not at all.
Many patients under our care stay at home throughout the course of their illness and die peacefully in their own home. Other patients may have one or multiple admissions to the Hospice and be discharged again.
No, you can be referred to St Gemma’s at any stage in your illness. Many people are referred to the hospice when they are first diagnosed as we can provide support in many areas throughout the course of their disease, such as symptom control or rehabilitation after treatment. This care may be through our community team or our Outpatients service.
We have expertise in pain management, control of nausea and vomiting, constipation, diarrhoea, anxiety, depression, sleeplessness, spiritual distress and many other troublesome problems.
The earlier we get to know the patient the quicker we can be called upon if any problems arise that require urgent intervention. It also means we can liaise with the family doctor to ensure we have up to date information on the illness to ensure the best possible treatment is offered.
No, we accept both patients with cancer and patients with other illnesses.
We take anyone who has an ‘active progressive, advanced disease that is not responsive to curative treatment’, such as heart disease, lung disease, neurological disease etc. where the patient has been informed that the disease is likely to be terminal.
Yes, St Gemma’s welcomes and provides care to everyone regardless of people’s age, gender, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or diagnosis.
We need a referral form completed either by your GP or hospital doctor, although we do accept referrals from anybody with their doctor’s permission.
Yes, if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a life-limiting or terminal illness you are welcome to book on one of our Out-Patient sessions.
Yes, in the majority of cases we would. The St Gemma’s have a community team of specialist nurses who will visit you in your own home to assess your needs and to discuss a plan of care that meets your needs and fits in with the care that your family and the primary healthcare team (that’s your local doctor and district nurse) can provide.
Following an initial assessment, ongoing support may include visiting at your home, attendance at our Out-Patients department, phone calls, video calls or virtual groups via Zoom. Our specialist community nurses can refer to other members of our multi-professional team as needed and work closely with other professionals/services involved with your care, for example, hospital teams, GPs, neighbourhood teams and other specialist nurses.
Our usual visiting hours are 8am – 8pm. This enables families and friends to spend time with patients, whilst giving all patients an opportunity to rest. There may be certain situations where visits outside of these hours can be accommodated; this needs to be agreed in advance with a member of the team.
No, we do not charge for any of the services we offer.
The services provided by St Gemma’s Hospice are always free of charge to patients, families and carers, but are not free to provide. St Gemma’s Hospice is a local, independent charity and the majority of our running costs need to be raised from the generous local community.
No, we do not offer respite care. We have found that many patients seeking respite care would be better suited to accessing our full services, or do not need the specialist care we provide.
Yes, we can accept patients from outside of east Leeds.
Healthcare professionals usually refer patients from the eastern side of Leeds to St Gemma’s Hospice, and from the western side of Leeds to the Sue Ryder Care Wheatfields Hospice. However, sometimes patients from other areas in Leeds, or elsewhere in the country, may prefer to come to us because their relatives live closer, they have a connection with us, or some other reason. We are more than happy to take these preferences into account.
It is not possible to access the St Gemma’s community team service from outside our area. Extended travel times for our teams would mean we would have less time to visit patients. Please contact our team if you require further advice.
We would like to clarify the position that St Gemma’s Hospice holds on Assisted Dying for those diagnosed as terminally ill and anticipated to be in the last months of life.
The term ‘Assisted Dying’ is often used to describe circumstances in which a person is either helped to end their own life (physician-assisted suicide), or where there is a deliberate act to end a person’s life (euthanasia).
Assisted Dying is a complex subject which raises challenging ethical questions for hospice care. St Gemma’s Hospice recognises that across society there is a range of different views, and respects the right of everyone to take an individual position. It is our view that the question of whether there should be a change in the law is one for society to consider and for the parliaments and assemblies across the UK to decide.
The St Gemma’s Hospice position is as follows:
St Gemma’s Hospice acknowledges the value of life and the importance of dignity in death. We provide and promote the highest quality palliative and end of life care.
St Gemma’s palliative care services seek to relieve suffering without intending to shorten or prolong life. Palliative care includes the right to decline medical interventions, and requires that a person is supported in either decision.
St Gemma’s Hospice believes that assisted dying (whereby lethal drugs are provided to assist a patient’s suicide) is not consistent with the provision of palliative care.
St Gemma’s Hospice aims to support improvements to deliver equal access to high quality, effective palliative and end of life care for all people at the end of life, whilst supporting families, friends and carers.
St Gemma’s Hospice – February 2016
