The team at a Nottinghamshire care service have been recognised as finalists at a national awards for the work they did to support a resident through end of life care.
The whole team at Cygnet Lodge, on Sandown Road in Sutton-in-Ashfield, have been shortlisted as finalists for the Palliative Care Awards 2024 in the Care Team – Residential & Nursing category.
It is in recognition for the end-of-life support they gave to a service user who had been diagnosed with a rare neurological condition known as Wilson’s disease.
He received support from the staff at Cygnet Health Care during the physical and mental decline brought on by the illness, which is an uncommon hereditary disorder that causes copper levels to accumulate in multiple organs, particularly the liver, brain, and eyes. Roughly 1 in 30,000 people are impacted.
Principal Forensic Psychologist Sarah Ashworth-Watts of Cygnet Health Care assisted in supervising the service user’s care.
The nomination, according to her, “reflects all of the hard work, consideration, and compassion shown by Cygnet Lodge staff.””I was honored to be a part of the team and the experience itself.
“Taking care of this individual required a great deal of teamwork from all disciplines, especially in a field that may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable for most people.”
The awards are intended to honor persons and organizations that offer excellent, person-centered, end-of-life and palliative care, allowing individuals to have a good life and a good death. They also aim to recognize achievements at all levels from the social care profession and hospices.The Care Team category, in particular, honors remarkable teams that have significantly improved the general quality of life and celebrates extraordinary teamwork in supporting individuals nearing the end of their lives in a social care or hospice context.
Average life expectancy for those with Wilson’s disease is 40 years old. The Cygnet Lodge team supported the service user for over a decade before he died.
They were able to draw upon their individual specialist expertise across a range of fields including psychiatry, nursing, psychology, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, dietician, and support workers. They also drew on personal experiences, and liaised with external palliative and neurological professionals to ultimately facilitate a good death.
Stevie Lambert is a Mental Health Nurse at Cygnet Lodge who helped to deliver the care. She added: “We made sure he had a person centred care plan and that his care package was the very best it could be.
“The patient was able to express his wishes and the entire staff built a rapport with him. We became his family and we were able to respect what he wanted.
“Normally in a care home, we want to promote independence and improve people’s lives. We knew unfortunately this person was going to die and we wanted to make that as dignified as possible. I feel we did that and made his final days, and hours, as comfortable and peaceful as they could be.
Even though it was difficult at the time, taking care of him was an honor and fulfilling. We will remember that encounter for a very long time.
Cygnet Health Care’s SLT Director is Dominique St Clair Miller. The effort that each of them accomplished with this person is unquestionably worthy of praise, the speaker declared. They all expertly handled the difficult task of providing palliative care, relying on the knowledge of pertinent parties and upholding a person-centered approach at all times.
“I’m hoping for the best for them in the final.”
Acquired brain injury patients can get neuropsychiatric rehabilitation, care, and therapy at Cygnet Grange, an eight-bed institution located on Mason Street in Sutton-in-Ashfield.
The program, managed by Cygnet Health Care, offers individuals with a degenerative neurological illness a safe and secure environment to support their rehabilitation.
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