Emma Hartley, Joint Team Lead in the Living Well Service

Emma Hartley is the Joint Team Lead for the Living Well Service at the Charity, to support patients to live well, help them feel in control and make every moment count. She has been working for the Charity for over 13 years (since 2012), starting as a Physiotherapist.

What makes you proud to be a part of the Charity?

The team, really. Everyone in the team is really passionate about what they do and wants the best for their patients and their family. Every day they all go the extra mile and that just seems normal for them. They give their all. They’ve all got a good sense of humour and they’re all really supportive of each other.

When patients first come to the Hospice, it can be quite scary and overwhelming but I think we’re really good at putting patients at ease. When people come through the door they say how calm it is. The team put the patients at the core of everything. When we first speak to them, they set goals that they want to achieve. So, when they come, they know what they want to do and what’s important to them. Our role is to empower and enable them to do it, and to try and have a bit of fun in the process, meet other people in a similar situation, and just make things seem less scary.

“We may see patients early on in their illness, they’ll be with us for an eight-week programme, they might have a break from the service and then come back when they need further support. Being part of their journey is very special. We do our best for them and their families, providing the support they need and want.”

How are patients supported across the services?

It’s what the patient wants to focus on. For example, if you were to say to someone, “Come and have a chat about your feelings and see the nurses for some emotional support”, the barriers are going to go up. But if you say, “You can come in and meet people in a similar situation, you could do some gentle exercise in the gym and speak with the nurses when you feel ready”, it’s then with our friendly environment that they start to open up and get to know the team. Then they tend to be quite happy to share any fears with the nurses for emotional support and talk about planning for their future.

Complementary therapy can also introduce them to the Hospice Services in a gentle way. They can come and have a relaxing treatment where they’re just one on one with a complementary therapist. They might be booked in for a head massage or something specific, but the complementary therapies provide so much more… having a quiet and safe space with a skilled practitioner often means people open up and benefit so much psychologically as well as physically.

Patients are aware, when they access the Living Well Service they can have access to symptom management and future care planning advice, creative activities, complementary therapy, Physios and Occupational Therapists and now also Art Therapy or Music Therapy.

Do you have a memory which evokes joy from a moment at the Hospice?

I don’t have a particular memory, just lots of different ones. Helping patients to believe in themselves a little bit more and see them smile and be happy and to support them through a scary time in their lives. I think it’s seeing patients who come to us and are very nervous then suddenly realise they can do things. It might be something simple like going on the exercise bike that might evoke lovely memories they had of previous cycle rides. They might then realise, ‘Actually, I can do a lot. I’ve just been on the bike for 10-15 minutes. Maybe I can then do something with the family’.

The lovely thing with Living Well is we can meet patients early on in their journey who need our support for coming to terms and accepting their diagnosis, but that we can also support them off and on as their illness progresses and advise on managing their symptoms or signposting them to other services as needed, as things progress for them.

What still surprises you about hospice care?

I guess the dedication of the team. We do it to help people and make a difference in people’s lives. We have a dedicated team of passionate people who come into work every day and give their all. I think that’s quite amazing.

A lot of people might have a misconception that working in a hospice is a sad place but the team have a really good sense of humour and will often do little things that make each other laugh and put a smile on our faces. What would you say to someone facing hospice care?

It’s not scary! Give it a go. Everybody wants to support them to do whatever it is that they want – the hospice will try their best to do what’s important to them. That might be something like having the energy to sit up and chat with family and friends. It might be getting on top of their pain so that they feel they can go and do things that are important to them. It’s not just about death and dying. It’s about living and getting you to feel more in control of your situation, and us supporting you through a tough time!

You can find out more about the Living Well service here.