More Newham patients with life limiting illnesses will receive specialist care in their own home as part of a new co-ordinated plan by St Joseph’s Hospice.

By moving its Newham community palliative care team to a permanent base in the borough St Joseph’s believes it can work even more closely with patients and their families.

The team of six nurses and two social workers will be based at the East Ham Care Centre, on Shrewsbury Road, Forest Gate. Working alongside them is St Joseph’s End of Life Care Facilitation Service – two nurses who are helping GPs, care homes and district nurses identify patients approaching the end of life and then planning their care.

Currently, Newham has the highest proportion of deaths in hospital in England and only 21.5 per cent of the borough’s residents die at home. St Joseph’s hopes that it will be able to help patients it currently cares for at home to stay there as long as they want as well as reaching many more patients, particularly those with conditions other than cancer, including heart failure and neurological conditions.

Ruth Bradley, Director of Care at St Joseph’s, said: “We want the people of Newham, both patients and health professionals to know that we are there to provide the very best end of life care.

“This is part of our ongoing commitment to provide hospice care in the community. The majority of people would prefer to be cared for at home, so long as they can be, and we are committed to working with our colleagues in Newham to provide that care.”