Weldmar Hospicecare Impact Report 2020

A review of

2020

Weldmar Hospicecare Impact Report

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 1

Foreword from
our CEO

Hello, and a very warm welcome to but also witnessing our charity stores
our first ever impact report. 2020 closing their doors for many months
was a year like no other, not just and all of our fundraising events being
in our personal lives but also for cancelled, resulting in our traditional
many businesses, organisations income streams no longer providing
and charities too. Here at Weldmar essential financial security for the
Hospicecare, we were no exception charity. With the help of the many
and last year saw one of our most government packages available as
challenging times in our 27 year well as the support from our local
history. As like many of us, our community, we are extremely proud to
experiences of 2020 were completely be able to continue our care to those
different to what we had planned but who need it most. Our impact report
we are so very proud that we were still provides you with an overview of a
able to continue all of our services year at Weldmar, plus we look forward
across the county throughout the to what 2021 will bring the charity, not
pandemic. Not only were we able to just the many challenges; ahead of
keep the doors of our Inpatient Unit us, but also the endless possibilities
open and our dedicated team of to support more people. Whether
professionals out in the community, you have been supporting Weldmar
but we were also able to launch and Hospicecare for many years or are
deliver a range of new services for our a fairly new supporter to the charity,
patients, their loved ones, members thank you so very much. Because you
of our community and our partners care, so can we.
from other health care providers Caroline Hamblett
across the county. This enabled us CEO Weldmar Hospicecare
to grow our services, being able to
adapt to the ever changing Covid
restrictions and work together to
deliver outstanding end of life care
when it is needed most. Don’t get me
wrong, 2020 was a challenging year
for us as an organisation. Not only
adapting to meet the growing demand
in our services during a pandemic,

Contents

Page 3 Page 8 and 9
Our Strategy New and enhanced services
during 2020
Page 4
Where we deliver our care Page 10
Other Specialist Support
Page 5
Our Inpatient Unit Page 11
Family Support Services
Page 6
Weldmar Community Nurses Page 12 and 13
Income Generation
Page 7
Day Services Page 14 and 15
Challenges and looking
2 weld-hospice.org.uk ahead to 2021

Weldmar What we do
Hospicecare
Strategy As an independent charity, we
2020 - 2025 provide personalised advice,
care, and support to people in
To do this, we will Dorset who have complex needs
at the end of life, supporting
both the patient and those
important to them.

How we do it

In line with our values, we
work,with people at the end
of life to explore what matters
to them, by listening to their
priorities and delivering the
best individual care for them,
whether they are at home, in the
community, or at our hospice.

Concentrate Be a great Deliver
on our key place to the very
services work best care

Continue to Engage
be financially and influence

viable the local
community

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 3

Where we deliver
our care

Gillingham

Shaftesbury

Sherborne

Beaminster Blandford Wimborne
Forum

Lyme Bridport
Regis
West Bay
Dorchester Wareham
Weymouth Lulworth

Portland

Weldmar Hospicecare provides vital end of life care
throughout Dorset in seaside towns such as Weymouth,
Lyme Regis and West Bay as well as historic towns such
as Dorchester, Sherborne, Blandford and Bridport. Our
care reaches as north as Gillingham, east as Wimborne,

south as Portland and west as Lyme Regis.

Whether it is
inpatient care, support
from our team of Weldmar

Community Nurses,
attending Day Services or
receiving holistic support,
Weldmar is here for everyone

who needs us most.

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Our Inpatient Unit

Our Inpatient Unit is based in During Covid-19 we are proud to have
Dorchester and provides a bright, allowed loved ones to continue to
warm and welcoming environment visit throughout the pandemic, being
to patients who require both able to facilitate this in a safe and
symptom control and end of life individualised way.
care. The doors of our Inpatient Our fantastic in house Hotel Services
Unit are open 24 hours a day, team ensured that they were still able
365 days of the year providing to provide delicious freshly cooked
specialist and bespoke care, meals for our patients staying at the
delivered with comfort, dignity hospice whilst our vital housekeeping
and respect. team made sure that not only was
Unlike many other health care the hospice kept spotlessly clean
settings, our Inpatient Unit has a and safe, but also ensured our stock
very low patient to nurse ratio which of PPE for all of our colleagues was
means that our team can spend much sourced wherever possible.
more quality time with our patients
and their loved ones. We are proud to
offer a mix of bays and single bedded
rooms.
As well as a homely feel inside the
building, the grounds of our Inpatient
Unit are on four levels including
a sensory garden, a meadow and
water fountains, all accessible by
wheelchair.

During 2020
226 patients were
cared for at our Inpatient
Unit, with an average
stay of 15 nights

Our 24 hour care and support,
just like all of our services,
are provided completely
free of charge

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 5

Weldmar During 2020
Community 881 new patients
Nurses
were referred
83% of our total care and support
is provided in the community, to our team of Weldmar
within community hospitals, Community Nurses with
care homes and in the comfort
of patients’ own homes. Here at them providing more
Weldmar, we have a dedicated support than ever
team of community nurses who before
work across the county. Our
team work closely with local
GPs and district nurses and
are experienced in complex
symptoms and problems that life
threatening illnesses and their
treatments can bring.

Last year saw
a 64% increase in
telephone and face
to face support

from our team, aided by
our new 24/7 Advice Line

and Weldmar Connect
app (more on page 8)

In December, members of Weldmar In total
staff gave up their day to hand our team of
deliver small handmade gifts boxes Weldmar Community
to all of our community patients, Nurses drove 76,518
containing a cracker, homemade miles across Dorset
Christmas cake by our exceptional
catering team, and a little chocolate as far as Gillingham, Lyme
teacake nestled inside a hand Regis, Portland, Wareham
knitted Christmas pudding, made by
our loyal supporters. and everywhere in
between

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Day Services

Day Services enable patients to
enjoy a day of social activities
whilst providing respite to their
relatives or carers. We deliver Day
Services in five locations across
the county; in the community
hospitals of Bridport and
Blandford, Westminster Memorial
Hospital in Shaftesbury and on
our own sites at Trimar House in
Weymouth and our Inpatient Unit
in Dorchester.
As well as providing stimulating
activities such as arts and crafts,
games and social interaction,
patients are provided with a delicious
hot meal.

During Covid-19, whilst many of our Weldmar Hospicecare 7
Day Services patients were shielding,
we had to adapt how we provided
continued support and services to
them. Our dedicated team made
sure that all patients were not alone,
making regular phone calls to them
throughout the pandemic. Some
calls would be just a few minutes and
others would rather talk for up to an
hour, helping them feel less isolated
and lonely.
When patients felt comfortable to
return, we were there to warmly
welcome them back, albeit offering a
slightly adapted service. Patients were
able to socialise from a safe distance
and return to the enjoyment of Day
Services.

Impact Report 2020

New and During
enhanced services 2020 we saw
during 2020 a dramatic 89%
increase in support
24/7 Advice Line
that was provided over the
In November 2018 we launched a phone by our trained experts
brand new service for community
patients and their carers – a including our team of
dedicated advice line, staffed 24 Weldmar Community
hours a day, 7 days a week.
During the start of the pandemic, we Nurses
quickly identified that not only was it
vital that we continued the phone line
but that it should also be expanded
to help not only those within our care
and their loved ones, but other health
providers too such as care homes,
the NHS, GP surgeries and other
support services. In addition, we also
set up a secondary phone line service
during the pandemic for patient and
carer calls that required emotional
support due to the difficult situation,
providing trained counsellors from
our Family Support Services team.

Weldmar Connect

Following an extensive pilot
scheme, in April 2020 we launched
the UK’s first interactive app to
monitor patients at home.
With 83% of our care being provided in
the community and with the outbreak
of Covid-19, the Weldmar Connect
app provided a vital link to community
patients at a time when non-essential
travel and social distancing was
so important. Although our team
of colleagues continued to support
patients in their own homes by wearing
PPE, the app allowed them to monitor
patient’s symptoms so they could
prioritise and prepare for their visits.
Patients use their own smartphone,
tablet or computer to complete a short
daily questionnaire about symptoms as
well as their mobility and dependence
on others. Most importantly, it allows
the patients the chance to take some
control, empowering them to record
their own symptoms.
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Community One lady told us...
Outreach Vehicle “I have spent the last three
weeks trying to find the right
Following a successful appeal support for my father who is
in November 2019 we raised nearing the end of his life. I
enough money to help fund have gained more help and
a brand new service to help support in the last 10 minutes
reduce loneliness and isolation from this service than I have
throughout Dorset, especially over the last 20 or so days.
in the most rural areas of our You have steered me in the
county. right direction and I now
Our Community Outreach Vehicle know the conversations I
was launched in September of 2020 need to have to get the right
and visited various locations across
Dorset, engaging with hundreds of support. Thank you
members of the community with so much”.
help, advice and information.

Whether you have a ...we’re here to
question, are looking listen to you and
help where we can
for support and
advice, or want to
find out more about
our free services...

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 9

Other Specialist During
Support 2020 we saw
an increase of
We have a dedicated team of 537 new referrals
Allied Health Professionals at
Weldmar offering Physiotherapy to our Allied Health
and Occupational Therapy to Professionals team
patients who need our support.
Our aim is to help patients stay
mobile for as long as possible and
that is achieved in various ways.
Another service which is provided by
Weldmar, which many are not aware
of, is Complementary Therapies
such as massage, reflexology and
reiki. These are all offered completely
free of charge and work alongside
conventional medical treatment and
aim to support physical, emotional
and spiritual wellbeing, enhancing
the patient’s quality of life. Due to the
pandemic restrictions our therapists
were unable to provide treatments
in the community, although this did
continue for all patients staying at the
Inpatient Unit. In addition, to support
our colleagues through the stress and
anxiety that came with the pandemic,
treatments and sessions were offered
for all of those working across the
charity including our colleagues in
retail, those working from home and
staff working on the front line.

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Family Support During
Services 2020 we saw
a 14% increase in the
Coming to the terms of a loved number of adults
one’s illness can be difficult
at any time, but during a supported by our bereavment
global pandemic this can be and counselling team
exceptionally challenging.
With social distancing and other with a 78% increase
restrictions in place, we needed to
quickly adapt to be able to continue in the amount of support that
our support to carers, those important was provided either face to face
to the patient, and children impacted or via technoolgy such as video
by these exceptional circumstances.
Embracing technology to be able to conferencing, telehone
still provide face to face support was or email
crucial and our teams quickly adapted
and learnt new ways of providing their Our social
vital and comforting support to as workers saw
many people as possible. a 17% increase
in referrals
We saw
a 142% increase in to their service
throughout 2020
the amount of
children

who received support
from our team which was
offered via various platforms
with face to face support

happening the most

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 11

Income
Generation

At Weldmar Hospicecare we need As of March 2020 we had to cancel
to raise over £18,000 every single all of our fundraising events and
day through our chain of 24 retail activities planned for the year
stores, fundraising events and including our popular Moonlight Walk,
activities, gifts in Wills and other Jurassic Coast Trek, and our Annual
donations. Summer Fete held in the grounds of
During 2020, our retail stores were our Inpatient Unit. With the forecast
forced to close their doors for a loss of this vital income, we launched
number of months of the year. With a Covid-19 Appeal to ensure that we
the high street becoming a significant could continue our services across
impact of the pandemic, we needed Dorset. We welcomed over 290 new
to quickly adapt and introduce supporters to the charity from this
additional retail opportunities. We campaign as well as experiencing
relaunched our eBay shop, which continued support from some of our
allowed customers and supporters to most loyal supporters.
shop online 24/7 wherever they are We delivered our first ever virtual Light
in the world. As well as antiques and up a Life event engaging with another
collectables, our online store boasts 1,100 people who were remembering
fashion, items for the home and their loved ones. We introduced a
jewellery. series on virtual quizzes raising over
£7,000 and members of our workforce
Although a across the charity stepped up to take
challenging year on their own challenges for Weldmar
for retail, we sold including ditching the booze, taking
a total of 571,978 on additional exercise, trekking 50
items across our miles in less than 24 hours and more.
We continued with our Make a Will
stores Month scheme in October, working
in partnership with 16 branches
including... of solicitors across the county. We
helped 127 people create or update
202,374 60,204 their Will with 10 people choosing to
items of books leave a gift in their Will for Weldmar.
clothing and One out of every three patients are
accessories cared for by gifts left in Wills so we
are extremely grateful.

5,292
pieces of
furniture

169,714
items of
bric-a-brac

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During 2020 we were forced to
rebudget our traditional streams of
income from fundraising, lottery, retail
and legacies, reducing our budget by
47% compared to what we needed to
raise to fund our services. Fortunately,
support from the government, local
authorities and our supporters, meant
that we were able to keep all of our
services going.
Looking ahead to 2021, the high
street looks set to continue to be a
victim of the pandemic, and due to
the uncertainly of Covid-19 we are not
planning to hold any of our traditional
fundraising events until at least
Autumn of 2021.

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 13

Challenges and With more patients wanting to
looking ahead receive end of life care at home
to 2021 surrounded by their loved ones,
we need to ensure that there
During 2020 we have experienced is a service fit for purpose and
an unprecedented increase in meeting the demand which
demand for many of our services, is going to grow even more
and as you would expect, we have substantially over the coming
had to adapt how we continue to years. With more complex
deliver our care and support in a conditions and an increased
Covid secure and safe way. amount of overnight care required
Some things have worked particularly in the community, we need to
well, such as introducing video think about how we can apply our
meetings for our colleagues across highly respected and specialist
the charity, saving both time and knowledge, care and support not
money for Weldmar Hospicecare. just at our Inpatient Unit, but a
We have also used technology to larger involvement in the comfort
provide bereavement support and of patients own homes too.
communicating quickly and securely We need to build on the
with other healthcare providers particularly strong relationships
across Dorset and throughout the UK. that have been made with other
Technology has helped us to adjust health care providers as a result
and continue our services during the of the pandemic, ensuring that
pandemic but we have learnt lots we work together across Dorset to
from this too. During 2021 we will be provide an even greater package
focussing on how technology could of care, whether provided by
help enhance our care and support Weldmar or other key agencies
moving forward in addition to that all across the county.
important face to face contact. We need to do all of this, with the
A great example of this is our knowledge that our chain of retail
‘Weldmar Connect’ app which we stores and fundraising events and
rolled out at the start of the pandemic activities are going to face another
in March 2020. We were the first incredibly challenging year.
hospice in the UK to develop such an Ultimately, more people need our
app, which monitors the symptoms of care and there will be less money
our patients in the community using from our traditional income
a smart phone, tablet, computer or streams to provide it. However,
landline telephone. The technology just like we have done for the last
doesn’t replace face to face visits by 27 years here in Dorset, we will
our Weldmar Community Nurses, but continue to put the patient in the
instead, enhances the tailored care centre of everything we do and
and support that we are able to offer, every decision that we make. And
having a greater understanding of up if we possibly can increase and
to date individual symptoms. enhance our services to support
even more people who need us,
We we absolutely will.
also know that
the demand in the
community is becoming
greater every year, and
the pandemic has
played a key part

in that

14 weld-hospice.org.uk

How you can There are
support us various simple ways
during 2021 that you can support
Weldmar Hospicecare
The continued loyalty of our
supporters is vital to enable us throughout 2021,
to not just continue our care here are just a few
and support across the county,
but also meet the increased of them...
demand too.
However you choose to support Be part of our team
Weldmar Hospicecare, thank
you for being a key part of the Volunteering your time is both fun
Weldmar family – we are truly and rewarding and can be a great
grateful.
way to meet other people and
Playing our Lottery enhance your skills. We have a range

For just £1 a week, you can be in of roles available including being
with the chance of winning one of part of our retail stores, fundraising,
175 weekly prizes, with a guaranteed
administration, working in the
£1,000 to win every week plus a community, at our Inpatient Unit and
rollover jackpot up to £25,000. You
can purchase single tickets in our even helping to get patients
charity stores or online, or set up shopping. There’s a role for

a regular subscription so you everyone.
never miss a draw.
Become
Be remembered for a regular customer
leaving a gift in your Will
There are always treasures to be
One in every three patients are found across our chain of high street
cared for as a direct results of these shops or larger stores selling a wide
range of pre-loved clothing, jewellery,
thoughtful and significant gifts. books, games, household items and
Whether you choose to leave us set
furniture too. Not only could you
donation or a percentage of your grab yourself a new outfit at highly
estate (which can be from 1%), your discounted prices, you’ll be helping

gift means that we can build and the environment and support
plan for the future, to ensure that Weldmar too.

we are here to help future Set up a
generations. small monthly donation

Find out more about all Regular and reliable sustainable
of these ways to support donations are vital here at Weldmar,
us on our website at and they allow us to continue our care
today, and plan for our services in
weld-hospice.org.uk the future. Plus, you’re in control. You
decide how much and how often you
wish to donate and we will promise

to invest your donation in the
best possible way.

Impact Report 2020 Weldmar Hospicecare 15

Contact Us

Weldmar Hospicecare
Inpatient Unit

Herringston Road
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 2SL

01305 215300
Weldmar Hospicecare

Trimar House
Cromwell Road

Weymouth
Dorset
DT4 0JH

01305 261800
Registered Charity Number 1000414

weld-hospice.org.uk

16 weld-hospice.org.uk