Throughout the day, the nurses monitor their patients and spend time supporting them and their families. 

“A lot of people believe that a hospice is just a place where people go to die and obviously that is daunting in itself when you know that you have a terminal illness. They may not know that people do come in and have their symptoms managed and then go home as well. They think it will be depressing, that it will be quite a dark and sad place. I think lots of people are surprised when they come in at how inspiring and uplifting it can be.”

During their stay, a patient may also have input from other St Helena professionals such as rehabilitation, counselling, social work, complementary therapy or spiritual care. Nicola is the spirituality link which involves liaising with the chaplaincy team about the services they can provide and that the nurses can call upon if they need to:

“The emotional and the spiritual do play a massive part in the physical care, so it’s something we really have to look at as well, particularly in hospices.

“People can be scared about a lot of things when they arrive and sometimes it takes a little while to get to know a person. We know these people have left their homes, they could be saying goodbye to their home that they’ve lived in for 40 years, seeing it for the last time – that’s a massive thing.

“I think there’s often a lot of things that people are struggling with; often it’s not that they’re worried about themselves, it’s about their family and how they are going to cope. That’s a big part of our job as nurses at The Hospice because we do get to know families quite well and often we see them every day. As well as supporting the patient we are very much involved in supporting the families as well, which is quite a unique thing about hospice care.

“With families, it’s being open and explaining things every step of the way. It’s about being approachable and reiterating to people that we are here to support them as well as their loved ones, and that they can talk to us at any time. They may be very stressed because they have been looking after their loved one and suddenly they’re handing over that care to you. And again, that’s a big thing for them.

“We have to earn their trust and prove that we are going to look after their loved one really, really well. They may never have heard of St Helena, never have met us before… so that’s what we do. A very, very important part of our job is to be approachable.

“I would hope they see us as caring people who just want to make their situation better. We’re not going to cure them, but it’s doing the best we can to help them make the most of the time they have.

“People do say ‘you’re all angels’ and that’s lovely. It gives us nurses massive amounts of job satisfaction because it can be tough being surrounded by people that are very unwell, dying and distressed at times. We have to process this ourselves as individuals and as nurses.”

The nursing team is the first point of call 24/7 for people staying at the hospice, and at the end of her shift, Nicola hands over an update to her nursing colleague about to start the nightshift. She knows she has made a difference for one day in the life of her patients, and that’s one of the main reasons Nicola loves being a nurse at St Helena.

This story may not be published elsewhere without express permission from St Helena Hospice.