Latest OCH Newsletter

It feels timely to remind everyone what our patient services are and let you know what our skilled team does in your community.

OCH, with the support of the community and other health providers, deliver specialist palliative care throughout Otago. People that can access this care are patients or family members that have or are caring for someone with a terminal illness and have complex symptoms that they could use help with.

Hospice is not a building, it’s a philosophy of care and a suite of services primarily provided in a person’s home. So although you may not have a hospice unit or bed in your community, you still have access to 'hospice'. Hospice is where you are.

There are a range of services that a patient and their family can access and also a series of educational programmes for people working in the caring sector, both health professionals and informal family caregivers.

These services are delivered by a specially trained team of clinical staff that include allied health and support staff:

• Assessment and ongoing care coordination and symptom management by nurses and doctors - at home

• Residential care team support

• Support for residential care providers

• Some hands on nursing cares

• Inpatient services

• Social work

• Spiritual care

• Counselling

• Biography

• Carer education

• Bereavement support

We continue to make a meaningful difference for so many patients and their families across the region, with your help.

I hope you will continue to support our Hospice, ensuring our free, excellent palliative care service for all those who need it.

Ginny Green

Read the FULL NEWSLETTER.