The care we provide

The aim of our Inpatient Ward is to provide high quality care to patients, their families and friends, addressing physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs. The focus of this care is to enhance quality of life.

The team of doctors, nurses and other Hospice staff promotes dignity and individual choice and strives to improve the patient’s care experience.

Most patients stay on our ward for around 2 weeks.

A skilled and experienced team of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists, work collaboratively as part of the multi-disciplinary team to enable patients to progress towards their personalised goals. The team support with non - pharmacological management of symptoms such as pain, fatigue and breathlessness to promote function, comfort, safety and independence in activities of daily living.

Our specialist palliative care Social Work Team offer a wide variety of support to both the person, their families and carer. This includes sourcing practical help at home, accessing other services, advice around debt or income maintenance and help with housing and advocacy.

We undertake work around helping people to prepare for the end of their lives.

A specialist confidential counselling service is available for patients who are terminally ill and their families who are anticipating grief and the bereaved. Counselling gives people the opportunity to talk through their experience with trained counsellors who enable patients and families to make more sense of their feelings.

The services include specific support for children aged 5-18 years where a family member is or has been cared for by LOROS.

The Spiritual Care team cares for the pastoral and spiritual needs of the whole Hospice community – patients, their families and friends. Pastoral and spiritual care is for everyone. Not everyone has a religious faith but we all have a spirituality which is unique to us and represents all that is important in our lives. The team helps people to explore what are their sources of strength, hope, comfort and peace and support them in whichever way they

can. The team provide the opportunity for individual prayer and facilitate and support patients and their families to observe religious practices and rituals. They can arrange for representatives from a variety of faith communities to visit as appropriate.

Chapel/Prayer Room

This is a multi-faith space, open for anyone to use day or night and is used regularly by patients, their families, staff and visitors as a place of quiet, prayer and reflection.

Our highly trained Volunteer Home Visiting volunteers provide companionship, practical and emotional support to patients in their homes. This may also enable relatives and carers to leave the home with peace of mind or to have some time to themselves.

The service is tailored to meet the needs of patients, relatives and carers and our volunteers are able to adapt themselves to how patients are feeling on the day. We can also offer a blend of volunteer visits and telephone befriending to suit the needs of the patient.

LOROS Day Therapy is a nurse-led service at the Hospice. Patients are accessed by a day therapy nurse following their referral. Day therapy may include complementary therapy, advice on maintaining wellbeing, diversional / creative activities such as arts and crafts. We also have themed weeks. The focus of the care is to enhance quality of life, promoting dignity and individual choice.

The Wellbeing Hub is available on the last Tuesday of the month from 10am – 3pm in Day Therapy and is led by volunteers. People with a palliative condition and their carers can attend. They do not need to be referred. There is a café available to purchase drinks and refreshments.

There’s no need to book, and you don’t need a referral from a healthcare professional.

The LOROS CNS Team work alongside nurses from Leicestershire Partnership Trust to provide specialist palliative care and advice to patients and families mainly in their own homes. This service is called the Integrated Community Specialist Palliative Care Team (ICSPCT)

The care is delivered through direct patient contact and liaising with other health and social care providers.

ICSPCT is supported by two LOROS Community Consultants, available daily to advise the nurses, provide home visits if required and liaise with other Health Professionals as appropriate.

The nurse-led lymphoedema service provides specialist care for patients with lymphoedema (a build-up of tissue fluid that causes swelling in any part of the body) caused by cancer or it’s treatments and for palliative patients known to other LOROS services

Lymphoedema is a long-term (chronic) condition. It cannot be cured, but it can usually be well controlled. The service offers specialist advice on Lymphoedema causes and management to the patient, their carers and health professionals.

A range of complementary therapies are offered to patients and relatives primarily to enhance well-being and quality of life, this is provided both to inpatients and in Day Therapy.

LOROS provides a palliative medical outpatient service at the Hospice, offering support and advice around difficult symptoms and an opportunity to discuss future care. Patients will be seen by a palliative medicine consultant or specialist registrar following a referral from hospital, community team or GP. There is also a Living with Breathlessness clinic supporting patients with cancer and interstitial lung disease, and a palliative neurology clinic supporting those with progressive supranuclear palsy and multisystem atrophy.

LOROS has a Young Person and Transition Key Worker to support patients and relatives aged 18-40 while accessing our services and to make the transition to LOROS from children’s services as smooth as possible. This includes identifying individual needs, ensuring that age-appropriate services are available, signposting to other organisations if required and providing a main point of contact for young people and their families.

We also offer a volunteer telephone befriending service. Volunteers can provide a weekly telephone call to patients and their family carers, to offer a listening ear and emotional support.

We have a range of bereavement support options; you will be guided to the most appropriate for you through our triage process.

We operate bereavement hubs across LLR that are open to anyone that has been bereaved. These are ‘drop-in sessions and no referral are needed. Please see LOROS website for full details.

The Family Support team helps bereaved families following the death of a loved one in the early days, weeks and into the future. They provide both practical and emotional support as well as signposting to further sources of help if needed.

Patients who are diagnosed with MND are referred for ongoing support with our MND team. The specialist nurses and healthcare assistant arrange regular reviews either at home or in clinic with patients, coordinating support from the wider MND team including dietitians, ventilation specialists, therapists, social workers and our medical team. The team works very closely with volunteers from the Motor Neurone Disease Association.