Caring at Home Services in South West Essex

Bliss offers a wide range of free services for the families of premature and sick babies including a video call support service.

The support group is a way to learn more about living with a lung condition and share your experiences and stories with others.

Care co-ordinators are llocated to specific surgerys in Basildon, Brentwood, Billaricay and Wickford. They support with GP MDTs and complex patients with multiple comorbidities.

Carers UK offers information and support to carers across the UK. There is an online forum and local support groups for carers. 

The Children’s Community Nursing Team consists of nurses who have specialist training and experience in the care of sick children. We provide a vital link with other professionals to provide holistic care including palliative care to children and their families. We aid in preventing hospital admission and supporting early discharge by teaching and supporting families to manage their child’s condition in their own home.

The Home Loans team is an intemediary service between equipment provider (medequip) and prescribers. The team ensure forms are completed correctly and appropriate equipment is ordered. There are satelitle equipment stores in Thurrock and Billericay. 

Referrals can be made via SystmOne or the email address above.

The Respiratory team provide five services:

• chronic case management of complex COPD patients,
• Home Oxygen service assessment and re assessment of patients in the community on oxygen therapy or that may fit criteria for oxygen therapy
• Pulmonary Rehabilitation exercise and education for those with diagnosed respiratory disease bar asthma
• Breathlessness and diagnostics ARTP accredited spirometry performing and interpritation for suport diagnosis of obstructive and restrictive respiratory disease
• FeNo testing, respiratory virtual ward pathway for patient with a diagnosed respiratory conditon bar asthma using early supported discharge measures and admission avoidance for those that fit criteria and are clinically indicated

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity supports families who have a child aged 0 to18 years with a life-threatening or terminal illness.

The patient therapies team help with a range of symptoms through groups and individual sessions to help managing pain and symptoms.

The team consistes of:

• Physiotheraphy
• Occupational therapy
• Complementary therapy

St Luke's Hospice Clinical Outpatients team offers convenient, accessible and specialist key clinical procedures and palliative care, in a relaxed environment with appointments to meet your wellbeing and lifestyle needs. 

Key clinical procedures offered to outpatients:

• Advance Care Planning clinics
• Ascetic and Pleural drainage
• Blood product transfusions
• Clinical Nurse Specialist symptom management clinic
• CVC line care
• Intravenous fluids
• IV Bisphosphonates infusions
• IV Iron Infusions
• Long term condition clinic – supporting heart failure, renal and liver conditions
• Venepuncture

The service opening hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm.

St Luke's Hospice community service provides assessment, support advice and care for people wishing to be cared  and supported in their locality community setting. The team also provide support in care homes, the hospice's rapid access service and there is the provision of clinical nurse specialists.

St Luke's Hospice Physiotherapy team can help when living with a life limiting illness.  Specialist Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists will listen and assess to support independence and aid mobility to manage symptoms and positively impact quality of life and wellbeing.

Family and loved ones are also supported in their caring roles. Advice, guidance and techniques on how to safely move and handle someone when caring for them can be accessed through conversation with the Physiotherapy team.

The offer includes:

• individual assessments to help provide appropriate equipment, e.g. mobility aids
• personalised treatment plans including non-drug pain relief treatments and exercises to improve mobility, independence and balance
• treatments to assist with shortness of breath, fatigue or insomnia
• group exercise classes and confidence building

Rehabilitative care is also provided by our Occupational Therapy team. 

Together for Short Lives have a helpline and family support hub to provide help and advice for those caring for a child with a serious illness.

All calls are answered by a senior triage nurse in the Single Point of Access, who will assess the case and advise if the service is able to stabilise and manage the patient.

The rapid resonse team aim to visit the patient within two hours.

Young lives vs Cancer support young people under 25 with cancer, and their families, to get the help they need during their cancer treatment and beyond, including bereaved families living with emotional distress.