Pictured: Members of the Hospice at Home Nursing and Administrative Team
Ahead of their 3rd Birthday this April, we are shining a spotlight on our incredible Seaton Hospice at Home Team. Our dedicated specialist nurses are employed through the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, but their vital work is funded entirely by Seaton & District Hospital League of Friends.
The nurses at Hospice at Home provide a 24-hour service, with day shifts running between 8am-8pm. Night cover is provided through an on-call service from 8pm–8am, seven days a week. As specialist palliative care nurses, they offer both physical and emotional support tailored to individual needs, aiming to support patients and their families or carers at home during the last year of life, ensuring comfort, dignity, and compassionate care. The service supports patients registered with Seaton & Colyton Medical Practice and Townsend House Medical Centre.
Since launching in April 2023, the Seaton Hospice at Home Service has provided extensive support to patients and their families across our community. The figures below high light the scale and dedication of the team’s work:
- 342 new referrals were received
- More than 9,500 daytime visits made
- Nearly 3,000 daytime calls handled
- 577 out-of-hours visits carried out (8pm–8am), representing over 778 hours of overnight visiting support
- 321 out-of-hours calls taken, equating to over 120 hours of overnight telephone support
(Between April ‘23 – end of Jan ‘26)
These numbers reflect not only the demand for the service but also the commitment of our specialist nurses to being there whenever they are needed.
Most people, when asked, express a wish to die in their own home. Nationally, around 50% of people achieve their preferred place of death. Within our service, 98.5% of Seaton Hospice at Home patients are able to die in their preferred place – a testament to the dedication, responsiveness, and compassion of the team.
“The Seaton Hospice at Home Team is a specialist palliative care nursing team that provides twenty-four-hour physical and emotional support for patients and their loved ones.
The dedicated team strive to give the highest standard of holistic, patient-centred care to all patients, guided by the individual needs and wishes of the patient and their loved ones.
The service provides continuity of care throughout the patient’s journey, enabling people to die in their preferred place, which is often their home.
As the nurse team manager, I feel honoured to lead a team of such amazing nurses who always go above and beyond their role. As a team, we feel privileged to be welcomed into people’s homes during such a difficult time in their lives.
It is a real honour to be able to offer this specialist palliative care service to patients within the local community. I would like to thank the League of Friends for supporting this service, and for the generous support and donations from local people. We are truly grateful to everyone who supports us.”
– Jo, Nurse Team Manager