The first speaker meeting of President Yvonne’s year was Dorothy Forster from Marie Curie. Dorothy is a former District Nurse, now working for Marie Curie.Dorothy talked about how a Marie Curie nurse can help a terminally ill patient who is living at home, by providing respite care in the patients home two or maybe three times in a week. The fact that there is someone with the patient all night takes the stress and strain away from family members and also give the patient the chance to speak about the things which matter to them, which sometimes they are not able to say to their nearest and dearest.
There are currently 2,500 Marie Curie nurses in the country who are looking after 35,500 people and this is set to increase as the population gets older. Nurses work a 9 hour shift starting at 10.00 pm at a cost of £20 per hour. The nurses offer both practical and emotional care to the patient, helping the family to cope with end of life care.
Approximately £8m pounds is spent annually on research on how to look after terminally ill patients and with an ageing population the need for more funding and more qualified district nurses will be necessary.