Member Article

St Oswald's Hospice Outreach Service For Children And Young People Gets On The Road With Wingrove Motor Company Backing

A new hospice outreach service for children and young adults with complex medical needs who live across the North East is getting on the road with the help of the region’s largest family-owned car dealership group.

St Oswald’s Hospice set up its new nurse-led outreach service in the summer to deliver home care packages for children and young adults up to the age of 25.

Service users and their families are able to benefit from individualised, specialist care in the familiar surroundings of their own home, which the hospice recognises can be more beneficial to some young people with complex medical needs.

And now, to help the nurses and support workers who are delivering the new service travel round the region more easily and sustainably, Wingrove Motor Company is making an Electric Citroen EC4 available to St Oswald’s Hospice for the next two years.

The new outreach service, which covers an area from Northumberland to Teesside, complements St Oswald’s existing on-site short break care, which has been offered to children and young adults at its hospice in Gosforth for more than 20 years.

It has been developed in response to recent health sector research showing that the number of children needing palliative care has trebled in the last 20 years, and aims to give families more quality time together by delivering the required specialist care in their homes.

Senior Sister Rebecca Liddle, who heads up the new outreach service alongside Senior Sister Jessica Carlington, says: “Through the outreach service, we aim to provide consistent and individualised care at home to children and young adults with complex health needs.

“With an ever-growing demand for support for children and young adults with complex health needs, this service can help reduce waiting lists and will allow more families across the North East to access our specialist care.

“The team is so excited about the potential the new service has for expanding our care delivery to more children, young adults and their families across the North East, and while it is still in its infancy, early signs are showing a very positive impact on families we support.

“We are so thankful to Wingrove for providing a car for us to use. It will have a huge impact on how we can deliver our outreach service across the region.”

Jane Hogan, Head of Fundraising at St Oswald’s Hospice, adds: “We were delighted that Wingrove joined our flock by sponsoring a Shaun on the Tyne sculpture as part of our summer fundraising art trail, and now that the trail is over, we are excited to continue our partnership with their team.

“The car that they have kindly provided will be an important part of our outreach service and we are so grateful for their support.”

Wingrove Motor Company operates the official North East franchises for global brands Citroën, Peugeot and DS, and employs around 85 people across its Silverlink, Newcastle West Road and Cramlington dealerships and service centres.

Managing director Josh Parker says: “St Oswald’s Hospice makes an incalculable difference to the lives of hundreds of families right across the North East as they face up to some of the most challenging situations imaginable.

“None of us know when we might need the help and support of the amazing Hospice team and we’re extremely pleased to be continuing our relationship by supporting this invaluable new service.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Julian Christopher .