In this episode Laura meets with Michelle Rollinson, who is a Chief executive of St Andrew's hospice. Michelle shares what motivated her to start her nurse training and her first job as a Neonatal intensive care nurse when she first qualified. Michelle discusses her first role and how engaging with post graduate training and education changed her practice and how this also helped when she was supporting students. She shares her move to work at the hospice and how she has held a variety of leadership and management roles, including Head of care for adult and children and now as CEO. Michelle shares her motivations for studying for a MSc in Palliative care. She discusses how the multi disciplinary focus on the modules has assisted her in her leadership roles. Michelle shares advice for any student listeners or anyone wishing to work in palliative care. The episode finishes with Michelle discussing her career goals and plans for the future, working on a local, regional and national level. Please see below for some information about St Andrew's Hospice: At St Andrew’s Hospice, we aim to make each day count. As a registered charity, we provide palliative care services for adults, children and families who are living with life-limiting conditions, as well as family bereavement support. We have delivered palliative and end of life care for more than 45 years to people across North East Lincolnshire, and for 25 years to children from the whole of Lincolnshire, Hull, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. We employ just under 200 staff and are supported by more than 450 volunteers, meaning we can provide 24-hour care, seven days a week. It currently costs £7million a year to run the hospice, of which only a fifth is funded by the Government. We rely on the generosity of our community to fund the rest. Anyone can refer – the patient, their family or a medical professional – in writing, by telephone or in person. We are independent of the NHS but work with other healthcare organisations to provide the best possible care. You may know St Andrew’s Hospice as a place that looks after adults in the final stages of their lives. We offer the comfort, care and compassion that we believe each one of us deserves, easing pain and managing symptoms whilst providing a holistic hand hold to both our patients and their families. But did you know that the breadth of our care reaches far beyond the confines of our adult inpatient unit? Each year, we also provide thousands of Hospice at Home visits for children across Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, wellbeing sessions in our garden and creativity room, physiotherapy and lymphoedema treatments, bereavement counselling and complementary therapies. Our hospice is a vibrant, happy place, which celebrates life and living. Whether through a movie marathon at our onsite cinema, art therapy groups in our Coffee Retreat or ukulele groups entertaining patients in our Hub, our focus is on making each day count. Thanks to our donors, supporters and community, we do this at no cost to our patients, for the majority of our services. Their generous support means our hospice care services continue to be delivered both in the community and in our buildings, under one roof, providing high quality, person-centred, holistic palliative care. Our community is at the heart of everything we do. Without them, we simply wouldn’t exist. With their support, our aim to ‘Make Each Day Count’ is more than words – it is a reality for the adults, children and families who use our services. https://www.standrewshospice.com/
