So Jean White Chief Nursing Officer of Wales visit went wonderfully. She appeared impressed by our nurse-led model, and I was delighted that so many local health board and other dignitaries were present. Thank you!. We were able to give her a sneak preview of our plans for the redevelopment and expansion of the hospice. Which I haven’t been able to share with everybody until now. Because we are going to planning this week and so everything is in the public domain. I am massively excited by this. We are expanding our services so that we will have 12 beds – currently we have 8. We will also have greatly improved facilities for our day therapies, AND most exciting of all – something I have dreamed of for the last 7 years we will be having a community café. Yes, the café is for all to use. I see it as a vehicle for my mission to break down the boundaries and giving ownership and normalising death and dying for our community. So I’m interested in anybody wanting a venue for say knit and natter, or reading groups. I’m especially interested in musical evenings classical or modern. Anyway if anybody out there has a particular interest and needs a venue we have one! Its going to be absolutely fabulous! The designs are wonderful – thanks to Creu.
I’ve recently been to Oxford on the pain and symptom management course, which is always excellent. I hadn’t been for a few years so it was good to be back. I met some lovely people who were very interested in our nurse led model – the word is spreading.
The rotary club of Denbigh, kindly asked me to give be their guest speaker talk. It was in the Brookhouse Mill, Denbigh, which I hadn’t been to for years, again the topic was the nurse led model of hospice care. They were very welcoming, I had nice nosh and then gave my talk. They asked lots of questions and seemed to be interested in the work that the hospice does. Thank you Rotary for being such kind hosts!
I’ve also been down to Cardiff for my graduation for the post graduate diploma in palliative care. It was a lovely day, a little poignant for me as I was successful due to my determination to finish the 2 year course despite having surgery and chemotherapy for breast cancer! So it was a bit of a personal landmark. Cardiff was sunny, and all the graduates got togged up in city hall in their gowns and hats and then wandered down to St Davids Hall for the ceremony, it was such fun.