Grace Hughes, RN

We had a long-stay bone marrow transplant patient on the ward who sadly had an incurable complication of their treatment. There had been plans in place for hospice care, but unfortunately, the patient deteriorated more rapidly than expected over a weekend. Events were further complicated by the fact that the patient's family had very recently tested positive for COVID-19. Visiting was impossible for them, as clearly COVID-19+ individuals could not enter the transplant ward. They were distraught at the thought of the patient dying without family present. Grace went above and beyond normal care to rapidly coordinate the patient's safe discharge from the hospital. Same day community care was arranged, a hospital bed, palliative care support, paramedic transport, and home oxygen. I have never experienced such a well-organised and efficient end-of-life discharge, particularly out-of-hours, and most importantly the patient was able to have their family around them at the end of their life. This was all the more important with the limitations to visiting experienced by the patient during their long stay during the pandemic. We have subsequently received feedback from the patient's family as to just how important this was to them all.