Contacts
Contact:
Manjula Patel
Manager, Bridges Support Service
Organisation:
Murray Hall Community Trust
SGS House Johns Lane Tividale Oldbury West Midlands B69 3HX United Kingdom
Tel:
0121 612 2939
Fax:
0121 612 2934
Email:
Case study:
11 May 2010
Bridges Support Service in the Sandwell and Birmingham area
Key points
- The Bridges Support Service provides a range of services to patients with cancer and other palliative care needs in the Sandwell area
- The services include respite care, advocacy, transport, complementary therapy and benefit advice
- The service is now being expanded to cover the whole of Birmingham.
The Bridges Support service offers a wide range of support services to patients with cancer and other palliative care needs in the Sandwell and Birmingham area.
The Bridges model aims to ease the burden on patients, their families and carers in the community and improve or maintain the quality of life throughout the patient journey – from diagnosis, remission, and palliative care to death and beyond.
The service, first set up in Sandwell in 2001, provides a wide range of supportive care services including respite care, domestic care, sitting service, benefit advice, advocacy, volunteer transport, counselling, information, complementary therapy and self- help support as well as referrals and access to mainstream health and social care services.
The service was originally set up to provide support to people with cancer but this was later widened to those with other palliative care diagnoses. It is now being expanded into Heart of Birmingham PCT as part of a three-year plan to integrate it into all aspects of the city’s cancer and palliative care services.
The plans have been developed in partnership with the Pan Birmingham Palliative Care Network, PCTs, Murray Hall Community Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support.
In the last financial year (2005/06) the Bridges Sandwell team of three staff supported over 700 people living with cancer, including 434 patients and 268 carers.
At the heart of the service is person-centred care.
In order to respond to the changing needs of the individual, Bridges staff have been ‘enabled’ to exercise flexibility in their role. This has meant acting at different times as coordinator, advocate, navigator or merely accompanying individuals on their journey.
It is also recognised that working with individuals with life-limiting diseases is highly stressful.Providing training, support and guidance has been paramount.
This includes enabling reflective practice, peer support, and clinical supervision.
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