Hospice Care is for Carers too

For those living with an advanced or terminal illness, specialist care from experts is really important, but it’s not just the patients who need support. Local Hospice Care charity Phyllis Tuckwell understands the worries and needs of its patients’ family members and carers too, and offers a range of practical, social and emotional support to help them.

Caption: A foot massage can help ease tension and anxiety for carers.

This year, Carers’ Week (9^th-15^th June) focusses on 'Caring About Equality'. When a loved one is ill, relatives and friends often become their carers, providing unpaid support whilst still having to manage other commitments such as work and childcare. They often don’t know what support is available to them, or where to look for it. Phyllis Tuckwell understands the pressures they face. Its six-week online Carers’ Programme, for the carers of its patients, provides weekly sessions on topics such as forward planning, coping strategies, and how to manage relationships when they change. It also offers an important social space where carers can meet and chat with each other, and signposts carers to other resources that are available to them, which they might not have been aware of.

One of its carers said: “It was nice to feel you’re in a group with other people who are all carers. Everyone has their own experience. It was great to be guided through different services that are available. It is good to know that I can reach out to the professionals who know and understand what is needed, and can either help or guide me to where I can get help.”

Carers can also meet up at Phyllis Tuckwell’s Carer Support drop-in sessions, which are held from 11am to 12pm on Fridays, at the Beacon Centre in Guildford, and at its drop-in coffee afternoons for patients and carers, which are also held at the Beacon Centre, on the first and third Thursday of the month, from 1.30 to 3pm. Its regular pamper days offer a relaxing opportunity for carers to take some time out to enjoy haircuts, manicures and complementary therapies such as massages, along with a shared lunch and a goodie bag to take home afterwards.

The charity also helps its young carers, offering emotional support from counsellors who are specially trained in supporting children, and signposting them to different groups and projects which they may find beneficial. After bereavement, the adult relatives of its patients are supported through its First Steps and Second Steps groups, while its bereaved young carers are invited to age-specific groups or individual counselling sessions.

“Living with an advanced or terminal illness affects the whole family, and it's so important to support the carers of our patients, who often don’t know where to turn for help,” said Maria Abellan, patient, family and carer support team manager at Phyllis Tuckwell.