St Gemma’s Therapy Team
The Therapy Team at St Gemma’s is here to support patients who are living with life-limiting illnesses such as cancer, Motor Neurone Disease, Parkinson’s and lung disease.
We help them live as well as possible in the last months of their life, no matter how much time they have left.
We work with each patient and their family to help them find out what their goals are and explore ways they can achieve them. Sometimes that could be making small, practical changes that can have a huge impact on daily living.
Each person cared for by St Gemma’s has their needs assessed so we can offer them the right support. Our vision is to enable each patient to do what is important to them as an individual, helping them achieve the everyday activities they want to carry out.
These include things that might seem simple but can make a huge difference to a patient’s wellbeing and quality of life. Their goal might be to do some light physical exercise or go outside in the garden. We aim to help each person manage their independence and get back to their home environment wherever possible.
The Therapy Team is just one element of the holistic care provided by the Hospice for patients and families. We’re part of a wide team of healthcare professionals at St Gemma’s, and also work with Leeds Community Health teams and equipment suppliers to provide practical resources to make activities at home easier or reduce the amount of energy needed to complete a task. This can help patients manage difficult symptoms like pain, fatigue and breathlessness.
As specialists in palliative care we have a range of skills and use a combination of approaches tailored for each individual. We aim to develop a good working relationship with the patient and their family so they feel safe in our care.
This includes helping patients use non-pharmacological ways and self-help tools to enable them to manage their own symptoms, which can be very empowering for them. We work to ensure patients can live their life with dignity right up until the end.
Our occupational therapy, physiotherapy and complementary therapy services are delivered from Monday to Friday at our In-Patient Unit or Out-Patients Department here at the Hospice, or in the patient’s own home through our Community Team. During weekends we can also respond to urgent referrals to occupational therapy and physiotherapy. We know we’re only able to provide this level of care to the local community with the kindness of Hospice supporters.