Funded by Rosemere Cancer Foundation, the new Maple Suite on Ward Nine, the hospital’s inpatient oncology and haematology ward, has been especially designed to provide comfortable and dignified end of life care. It has been created from a meeting room at a cost to Rosemere of £47,500.
Sue Smith, Executive Chief Nurse at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The new suite will offer supportive care to help patients and their families to cope with their condition and help to maximise the benefits of treatment. Thank you to Rosemere Cancer Foundation for their contribution to the suite which will benefit so many people in the local area.”
And Ward Manager Michelle Mclaughlin, who expects the room to be in daily use added: “We are seeing more patients choosing to be nursed on Ward Nine as their preferred place of care when approaching end of life. As a result, we want to be able to give patients the opportunity to receive their nursing in an end of life focused suite with a less clinical environment.
“In the Maple Suite, we are able to do this. The suite gives patients the opportunity to feel they are in a ‘home from home’ and the individual space and comfortable environment also benefits their families and those closest to them.”
The suite was officially opened by 80-year-old Brian Squire, of Grange. In June, he married his love of 31 years, Valerie, in a moving ceremony on Ward Nine, where she was being treated for a rare blood disorder. The kind hearted couple asked that donations be made to the ward in lieu of any wedding gifts. Sadly, Valerie died three days later.