Ron Swanson of the Ayrshire Hospice

The Ayrshire Hospice aspires to ensure that every adult with palliative and end of life care needs and those people most important to them will receive timely and equitable access to high quality service, delivered by appropriately trained staff and volunteers, said Ron Swanson, Assistant Fund Raising Manager at Ayr Rotary Club last week

Their In-Patient unit has the facility to provide care for 11 patients within single-occupancy en-suite bedrooms. Patients can be admitted for symptom management, short term acute intervention, end of life care, multi-disciplinary assessment or planned respite. They offer a relaxed environment where patients, family and friends can spend quality time together. Included in the facilities are a comfortable family room and dedicated gardens for Ayrshire Hospice patients and loved ones. Additional support services such as the Ayrshire Hospice Social Work, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Complementary Therapy teams are also based on-site. Also said Ron, they provide 24 hour telephone advice and support to patients and health professionals.

Community Palliative Care Team • The aim is to reduce that feeling of isolation felt by many patients by creating peer social groups facilitated by the team at our Living Well Hub which is currently based at CentreStage, Kilmarnock. • The Hub allows patients and their carers to meet with staff in a relaxed environment where they are offered a range of activities such as art and complementary therapy. Ron continued that the community palliative care team is made up of a range of professionals: Specialist Palliative Care Nurses (SPCN), Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP), Doctors and Allied Health Professionals as required. • The team provides a service for patients, families or carers, at home or in care homes. This could be at the time of diagnosis or at any point throughout an illness.

Community Living Well Service Community Palliative Care Team • The aim here is to reduce that feeling of isolation felt by many patients by creating peer social groups facilitated by the team at their Living Well Hub which is currently based at CentreStage, Kilmarnock. • The Hub allows patients and their carers to meet with our staff in a relaxed environment where they are offered a range of activities such as art and complementary therapy.

On an average year, it costs approximately £7.9 million to run all Hospice services – equating to approximately £22,000 per day. Quite a challenge for the fundraising team.

Ron concluded with an amazing virtual walk through of the new facility which has a planned opening time of Autumn 2024.

David McIntyre gave a worthy vote of thanks.