Forfar-based charity Lippen Care is to appoint a senior palliative care nurse in an innovative milestone development for the organisation.
In a move described as the group’s most significant step since the opening of the Lippen Care-built Strathmore Hospice at Forfar well over a decade ago, the charity has begun the search for a candidate to fill the £40,000-a-year post which they will pay for in its first year.
The charity has said it is confident continuing local support will help it meet the first-year funding demand, with mainstream funding under the Angus Care Model being used thereafter.
Moira Nicol of the award-winning group said: “This post will augment and support our existing teams to improve the consistency of the palliative care we offer our communities.
“Lippen Care realised that there needed to be training for care home staff and the senior palliative care nurse will be able to provide that.
“Our executive was delighted to approve the plan for this post to be funded by Lippen Care for the first year and at the meeting it was said that this appointment is the first truly applicable thing to happen since the hospice opened its doors,” she added.
“A recurring theme from our population and the professionals who deliver care is the need to ensure we have good, locally available palliative care regardless of setting.
“This post is being proposed to support the non-specialist teams working within in-patient settings, including care homes, to provide high-quality, non-complex palliative care.”
Lippen Care raised a staggering £750,000 to build and equip the Strathmore Hospice within Forfar’s newly-built Whitehills Health and Community Care Centre more than a decade ago.
The facility’s first patient was admitted in April 2005 and since then the charity has gone on to deliver vital care to patients as well as comfort and support to families across the area.
“Lippen Care continues to receive amazing support and we have always taken the view that we are only here looking after this facility, which belongs to the people of Forfar and the surrounding areas,” Moira added.
“People who support us know that all the money they give is being spent locally and we really do believe in the creation of this Lippen Care senior palliative care nurse post.”
The Forfar hospice is run in partnership with the NHS, which funds and provides nursing and medical care.
Last September, however, the sudden temporary closure of the Clova ward at Whitehills led to a call from the charity to be kept more closely informed of operational changes there.
The health authority said low patient numbers had led to the decision, sparking a call for clarity on future palliative care provision locally.
