We continue to adapt our working practices in order to continue to care and support vulnerable patients and their families throughout the Covid crisis across the county. We are pleased to announce that we have been able to accommodate Yeovil District Hospital’s outpatient haematology and oncology services for patients with cancer.
The hospital in Yeovil has made this move in order to ensure a safer environment for the treatment of these patients, whose ability to fight off the coronavirus could be compromised due to their illness and/or their treatment plans. They wanted to maximise the effectiveness of these treatments it is important that this type of treatment is not delayed and that they take place routinely as clinically required.
The service became operational on Monday and has already not only given patients undergoing this important treatment a safe environment to receive this but has also brought about opportunities for collaborative working between the hospital and hospice teams.
“We are delighted to be able to help our NHS colleagues in Yeovil to ensure their chemotherapy patients can receive their much needed treatment in the safety of our unit. This is a great example of the collaborative way Somerset is pulling together to fight the Coronavirus outbreak and actively shielding those people most at risk.
During this time of emergency our clinicians are continue to work on the frontline, providing care in a partnership capacity with GPs, District Nurses and Nursing Home providers to support patients in the community helping to reach as many vulnerable people as possible to stay as safe as they can. Throughout this period we will continue to adapt our care provision to support healthcare communities, community volunteer groups and other charities. Our strength working together is improving the overall wellbeing of those most at risk – the compassion we are seeing across the county is wonderful and a real testament to everyone’s determination to ensuring patients and families facing a life-limiting illness are cared and supported during this crisis.” Says Ann Lee, CEO of St Margaret’s Hospice Care
Jonathan Higman, Chief Executive of Yeovil District Hospital echoed Ann thoughts, "It’s absolutely vital that our patients who require these treatments can continue to access our oncology and haematology services during this unprecedented period.
“We already have very strict processes in place to minimise the risk of any patient attending our hospital coming into contact with anyone who has, or may have the coronavirus. By temporarily moving these services out of the hospital and to a dedicated space in the St Margaret’s Hospice Yeovil Hub, we can reduce that risk even further for these vulnerable patients, for whom the virus could cause very serious symptoms.
“We are very grateful to our colleagues at St Margaret’s Hospice Care for allowing us to temporarily use their facility in this way. This is another example of the local system coming together for the benefit of our local population.
“I’d also like to say a big thank you to the staff in these vital services for enabling and adapting to this change, and for demonstrating such commitment to their patients.”
Only outpatient care is being provided, Yeovil Hospice are using the space that would normally be used for the hospice outpatient services which are currently suspended while the teams work in different ways to provide care and support to palliative patients. Our hospice community team, including Drs, Nurses and therapists continue to use the Yeovil Hospice hub as a base while they continue their work across East and South Somerset.