Getting to know Fiona from our FNH@Home Team

Last year we were thrilled to be able to grow our FNH@Home team, who offer patients and families the care and support they need to be able to spend their final weeks and days at home.  New nurses and healthcare assistants have joined the team enabling them to provide care to more patients, and over a longer period of time offering continuity of care and familiar faces during the toughest of times.

We spent some time with Fiona Mitchell, FNH@Team Lead to learn more about the service.

“I moved into palliative care five years ago, after being a Ward Sister of a surgical ward.  I was inspired to make the switch after seeing at first-hand the experience of seeing a loved one being cared for in a busy hospital – I knew that hospice care could offer so much more continuity of care and dignity for patients.

“We often find that family members are worried that their loved one won’t get the same support and care if they stay at home and are surprised that our At Home service exists. We bring the hospice to the patient, giving them the independence to choose to spend their final days at home, cared for with dignity, surrounded with their family and familiar things.  Our priority is always the patient and ensuring they get all the care they need.

“We are there to support all those around the patient, to spend time with them addressing their fears and answering their questions.  We know and understand how alone and overwhelmed they might feel and will do all we can to support them, and allow their loved one to fulfil their wish to stay at home as long as they can.

“It is a privilege to spend this time with them and see them through their journey.  It is more than a job, it is doing something that I love.”

FNH@Home is a service commissioned by the charity and made possible thanks to the ongoing generosity of our supporters.