A PETITION has been launched against planned cuts to the Marie Curie service in the region.
Paul Mcgill on Wednesday started the campaign on Change.org against changes to the rapid response team which are due to take effect early next year.
And so far 232 people have signed their support.
Currently the Marie Curie Rapid Response Team carry out home visits across the area between 9 pm and 7 am every night, offering pain relief, symptom control and specialist palliative care support for patients and their families.
But the nurses and healthcare support workers who make up the team locally were on Tuesday told that it will all cease and change in February.
Instead it will be replaced by a phone call service between 6 pm and midnight, and if a visit is required then an out-of-hours nurse will attend – if they are available.
Ambulance technician Paul, who lives in Dumfries, is furious at the decision and decided to take action.
He said: “I have seen first-hand how life limiting illnesses including cancer affects individuals and their families.
“In this difficult journey, Marie Curie palliative care services have been a haven, offering rapid response services for end of life care in Dumfries and Galloway. Nurses and health care support workers from Marie Curie extend the comfort of home to those in their final days, ensuring dignity, privacy and timely care that hospitals, often overcrowded, cannot always provide.”
He believes the decision “threatens to rob patients of their deserved serenity and their families of precious final moments at home”, adding: “This will cause issues if the nurse is already at calls say in Gretna and the caller is in Sanquhar, the wait could be four hours which is a long time of suffering.
“This will also cause an increase in pressure for services like out of hours, ambulance, district nurses in an already over capacitated hospital that I see in every shift at my own work.
“This will surely see an increase in the end-of-life patients not having their wish to be at home with family members for their last days, instead lying in a cubicle or, in many cases, corridors of hospitals where there is little to no dignity or privacy for these people.”
Paul further pointed out that analysis has shown that home palliative care considerably reduces hospital admissions.
Showing his support for the local Marie Curie staff, which includes his own wife and many friends, Paul added: “They always ensure the rapid response service is fully operational, even though there are many nights due to staffing issues they have to cover the district nurse shifts.
“The girls give the job 100 per cent and not only is it a job, it’s also a chance to give back to these families in their time of need. Everyone of them is passionate about the job and the role they fulfil.”
And he called on Marie Curie bosses to rethink the move, saying: “Reversing this decision is more than a nod to dignity and a win for our healthcare system, it is a message to each family that we value their journey; to each patient that we cherish their final wishes.
“We cannot allow suffering where it can be avoided. We cannot let swift care become a luxury of the past.
“Let’s ensure that patients continue to receive the dignified, comforting care they deserve in their hours of need.”
* To sign the petition, go to change.org and search Paul Mcgill
RESPONDING to the petition, Libby Milton, associate director for strategic partnerships and services at Marie Curie Scotland, said: “All Marie Curie Scotland service contracts are reviewed on a regular basis with NHS and health and social care partners to enable us to respond and adapt to the changing needs of the local community and to ensure that the money donated to us from the public is spent most effectively.
“Following discussions with NHS Dumfries and Galloway, there will be changes to Marie Curie’s Urgent Hospice Care at Home service, which will become a specialised palliative care telephone service. “This new model, which is planned to come into effect from early next year, will be available for all palliative care patients living within the community, and they can call from 6 pm to midnight, seven nights a week, with any concerns they may have.
“A Marie Curie nurse will speak to the patient and will undertake first line assessment, offer support and clinical advice, and arrange for emergency home visits from the NHS out-of-hours nurses, if required. “We believe this new streamlined service will be of great benefit to patients and their families. Not only will it help avoid unnecessary ambulance call outs or hospital admissions, but it will offer reassurance and a great deal of comfort to palliative care patients knowing they will be speaking to a Marie Curie nurse who will ensure their needs are met and concerns are answered.
“Providing care and support is at the heart of Marie Curie, and for people at end of life, Marie Curie’s community nursing team will continue delivering planned overnight care and support to patients and their families in the comfort of their own homes across Dumfries and Galloway. We are privileged that we will continue to be there for people when they need us most.”
