Hospice recruits retired NHS staff to care for patients who want to die at home

• Watch a report by Charlie Frost for ITV News Anglia.

A shortage of staff means that not everyone who wants to die at home will be able to, a hospice has warned. They are now trying to persuade retired health workers to retrain in palliative care so that people with a terminal diagnosis can remain in their homes, as ITV News Anglia has been finding out.

Keely Shulton doesn't remember much about her time in hospital after being rushed to A&E, which led to her life-changing diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.

But after moving to St Clare's Hospice to be cared for, her memory gradually came back.

By her last week at the hospice in Harlow, Essex, she did not want to leave because the staff had cared for her so well, welcomed her family in and supported them through the most difficult time.

"The last week was when I picked up, and I started to get tearful because I wanted to go home and then a couple of days later I was crying because I didn't want to come home," said Mrs Shulton.

"I was worried about leaving the hospice because I was worried how I'd cope."

Her diagnosis is terminal, which has been a lot for her and her family to deal with.

But her husband Lee said, while it had been devastating, knowing they had the support of the team at St Clare's meant to the world to them.

"It doesn't take the problem away. It just means that there's someone there and there's some help there if you need. So you're not feeling alone," he said.

Mrs Shulton is now being cared for at home, with the hospice calling each week and continuing to support the family.

Care in the community like this has become a large part of what hospices are doing as more people want to die at home.

In 2004, 35% of people died at home or in a care home but by 2020 that had risen to 52%, according to a Nuffield Trust report.

But fulfilling the wishes of terminally-ill patients who wanted to die at home was not always possible because of a lack of specialist staff, it said.

"In this area, eight people will die today. Of those eight, six would like to die at home, but only two will," said Carolanne Brannan, director of patient care at St Clare Hospice.

"Without dedicated and specialist staff we wouldn't be able to support those patients in their homes so with the recruitment crisis that can make things really difficult," she added.

A shortage of staff was a major issue for the entire health care sector, even before the pandemic.

To try to support patients' wishes, St Clare's is trying to recruit more staff, give on-the-job training and upskill its current workers.

Nicky Reid Norris, a development nurse, has been at the hospice for 17 years and said that while the job was challenging and emotional it was also very rewarding.

"I do feel very privileged to be in that part of somebody's life," she said.

"It can be difficult but I think we wouldn't be good at our job if we didn't get those moments where we do get upset.

"However, I do think you have to almost normalise death and dying to become good at it and recognise the needs of others. It's very rewarding because you do feel like you've done your best and you've made them feel safe," she said.

The challenge for hospices is to encourage more people to join them in providing dignified end-of-life care, much of which would be supporting people at home.

St Clare's said that could potentially take the pressure of NHS hospitals and help support more people like Lee and Keely Shulton to live as normally as possible through the most difficult of times.