In our Hospice

Admission to the Inpatient Unit involves a detailed assessment by a doctor and nurse who will ask you questions about your symptoms, what medication you are taking and how your illness is affecting your life and that of your family.

The doctor will examine you and may order some simple investigations, such as a blood test. A plan will then be agreed upon with you and your family, which addresses your priorities and sets realistic goals for your admission.

A doctor will talk to you regularly and, together with our nursing team, will monitor your progress. Members of the therapy team and patient and family support team (including social worker and pastoral and spiritual care team) all work in the Inpatient Unit.

Admission to our Inpatient Unit may be planned for a few days and not usually for longer than two weeks. It might therefore feel like we start making discharge arrangements sooner than you might expect.

Careful discharge planning is an important part of your time with us. Alongside trying to improve your symptoms and offering you and your family emotional support, our staff will discuss with you and your family where the best place for your future care needs may be.

In our Inpatient Unit there is no set routine to your day, although a nurse may have to wake you early to give you some of your medication.

Our experienced team of trained nurses and healthcare assistants are here 24 hours a day and will care for you on a shift-to-shift basis.

You will be reviewed by our doctors, and we can offer straightforward treatments such as blood tests and oral antibiotics. If necessary we can organise X-rays and scans at Lymington New Forest Hospital, but for more intensive assessment and invasive treatment, such as intravenous antibiotics, a hospital admission would be needed.

Our team is happy to answer any of your questions and can discuss any aspect of your care and treatment with you. They provide emotional support and will attend to your physical care.

Oakhaven will also support your family and, with your permission, will talk to them about your care.

We want you to feel comfortable and relaxed during your stay with us. Please feel free to bring in personal items that may make your bedroom feel more homely.

Packing List

Please remember to bring the following items with you for your stay:

• Night clothes, dressing gown and slippers
• Mobility aids (e.g. walking stick, frame, etc)
• Toiletries
• Medication you are currently taking
• Day clothes if you would like to get dressed during the day
• Relevant nursing notes/DNAR/CPR/TEP forms
• Any documents related to Advance Care Planning
• Any personal electrical devices you normally use (e.g. Kindle, iPad, laptop etc)
• Mobile phone and charger (please be aware we have poor reception for some networks - we do have a patients’ phone that relatives can call you on if this is the case)

Please do not bring in large amounts of cash or valuables as we cannot accept responsibility for their safekeeping. Personal electrical items can be bought in, but we will need to check that they conform to safety standards before use.

Laundry

We are only able to provide very limited laundry facilities and so we do ask that family members take home your washing, if possible.

As well as informing us about your prescribed medications, please tell one of our doctors or nurses about any non-prescribed medications, for example, vitamins, alternative treatments or recreational drugs that you take. This is so that we can help plan the best treatment for you to safely manage any symptoms.

Some medications we use and prescribe within the hospice to help manage certain symptoms may be surprising to you. For example, medicines that may be well known and associated with psychological conditions, can and are used very safely and effectively for managing pain and nausea. The use of medicines in this way is known as ‘off label’. If you would like any more information about this please do ask one of the doctors or nurses.

Our catering team uses fresh ingredients to produce a tempting selection of meals and snacks for patients.

Are meals provided?

Each morning of your stay we will provide you with a daily menu and discuss what you would like to eat and drink. We can usually cater for special diets. A selection of non-alcoholic drinks are available.

Volunteers support our nursing staff at meal times.

Food allergies

If you have a food allergy please talk to one of our catering team, or one of the nursing team who will be able to give you full details of the ingredients in any of the dishes produced by the Oakhaven kitchen.

Food and drink for visitors

In the Eatery, we have vending machines with a range of light meals, refreshments, snacks and drinks for families and visitors. The machines take card payments and are available 24 hours a day.

We welcome visitors to Oakhaven Hospice and ask that you adhere to our guidance to support the safety and wellbeing of our patients, staff, volunteers and visitors.

There are no set visiting times, however if you find that your visitors are tiring you, please speak with your nurse who will be able to help you sensitively control this.

Who can visit?

Adults, children and young people are welcome to visit. Children must be supervised during visits.

Pets are also welcome to visit but for safety reasons, we do request that dogs are kept on a lead and remain with their owner. We are also unable to have pets stay overnight. If you wish to bring a family pet, please speak to the staff to arrange this.

Sometimes we have to limit the number of people visiting to ensure that our staff are able to safely manage the environment.

On arrival, we ask that visitors sign in at the reception desk.

Food and drink for visitors

In the Eatery, we have vending machines with a range of light meals, refreshments, snacks and drinks for families and visitors. The machines take card payment and are available 24 hours a day.

Out of hours security

Our main Inpatient Unit entrance is locked after 5pm and at weekends. During these times visitors will need to use the intercom at the main reception door and our staff will attend to open the door. Please be aware that if staff are with patients, they may not respond immediately. We appreciate your patience.

Visiting after 10pm and before 8am must be agreed with the nurse in charge.

We wish to meet the needs of everyone, please be respectful of other patients and visitors. Please speak to the nurse in charge if you have any questions.

Overnight accommodation

We understand that on occasion, relatives or carers may wish to stay overnight. We do not have any formal overnight accommodation at the Hospice but we will try to accommodate one person in the patient’s room. Please speak to the nursing team.

Where necessary, we may be able to accommodate sleeping for one person in our relatives room. This is a used space during the day. Use of this space overnight will be reviewed on a daily basis. If you do sleep in this space overnight, please ensure you have vacated by 9am and the room is returned to its usual state. This includes removing any personal belongings.

Parking

Parking is available at the entrance to the Inpatient Unit, this is used by all staff and visitors, there are no specific spaces for visitors to patients. Please be aware that there can be times of high demand.

Infection control

Our patients can be vulnerable to infection. Please follow any infection control guidance that is on display and ensure you are undertaking regular hand hygiene.

The Hospice buildings and grounds are non-smoking environments for staff, volunteers and visitors, this includes vaping or e-cigarettes.

A designated space is provided for patients and their visitors to smoke tobacco and e-cigarettes outside, but please speak to a member of the nursing team first. Staff do not accompany patients to and from the smoking area. Smoking is not possible overnight as the building is locked from 10pm to 8am.

For safety reasons, we do not allow the charging of e-cigarettes or vapes.

The use of illicit drugs is not permitted.

Oakhaven Hospice can be found along Lower Pennington Lane, nestled within our beautiful gardens. Our individual patient rooms have ensuite facilities and open onto a patio area overlooking the grounds that you and your visitors can enjoy while you are with us. Your meals will be prepared for you in our kitchens and each day there is a fabulous selection for you to choose from. We are happy to accommodate any dietary requirements that you may have.

Our hospice is not just a place where people come to die. Whilst some do spend their final days with us, we also offer pain relief and symptom management that helps to improve quality of life and enables people to be able to live as well as they can with their illness. Many patients spend a short time with us to enable us to improve their symptom control and are then discharged home again.

The care provided by Oakhaven Hospice is free of charge to all our patients. The NHS covers a small proportion of our costs, currently around 11%. For the remainder, we are grateful to our wonderful community, whose donations, gifts in wills, fundraising and purchases from our charity shops cover the vast majority of Oakhaven Hospice’s running costs, along with all profits made by our social enterprise home care provider, Oakhaven Care Ltd.

We are committed to providing dignity and respect to all

Oakhaven is committed to providing a safe, respectful, and harassment-free environment for all individuals. This includes, but is not limited to, all forms of harassment such as verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, and unwanted advances of a sexual nature.

We expect all service users to treat our staff, volunteers, other users, and members of the public with dignity and respect. Inappropriate behaviour, including sexual harassment, will not be tolerated and may result in immediate action, including the suspension or termination of services or access.

If you experience or witness behaviour that is concerning, please report it to the Director of People Services at donna.wilkins@oakhavenhospice.co.uk.