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St Helena Hospice 2019-10-24 Person 5 5 0

My mother fell ill at the beginning of September this year when she was diagnosed with arrhythmia having led a healthy life for 100 years. We were shocked to see how quickly she went from going to her whist drives twice a week as well as coming shopping with me to hardly able to walk and lost all appetite. When the doctor placed her with the end of life team it was a scarey prospect but the reality of what happened next was so different from our expectations. That very day we were told carers would be coming in to help with Mum's personal care as part of the 'virtual ward' scheme. We were knocked out when they arrived by their gentle, calm approach mixed with obviously extensive experience of someone in my Mum's condition and also the family at this heartbbreaking time. The Singlepoint phone system has been a real support, just being able to call then at any time of the night or day either for advice or to summon medical help. Not only are the carers such a wonderful team, the nursing staff have been unfailingly professional, kind and efficient. Their bedside manner towards my Mum has been greatly appreciated for it's way of treating her as an individual human being not just a patient. Now my Mother's health has gone further downhill and at this really difficult and emotional time we feel cocooned by this service and cannot imagine how it would be for ourselves or any other family without this. I therefore would like to plead for this pilot scheme to become an established continuous service going forward.