A hospital has many rules and policies to protect both patients and staff. However, some rules can be flexed and even completely broken when taking into account the wishes of our patients in their last days of life. I am always humbled and delighted at the lengths that our staff will go to, to ensure those final days are lived with the utmost respect and dignity.
I hear amazing stories of how our staff support mums who are receiving palliative care, by ensuring that their young children can come into the hospital and that their mum can bathe them and put on their pyjamas and read them a bed time story for the last time. These are everyday tasks for every parent, but for some of the mums being cared for here they are very special moments. They also create precious memories for those children to remember forever.
Another of our palliative care patients last wish was to spend a few moments with her beloved dog. Yet again our staff made it happen. Another story I heard was of a young policewoman who desperately wanted to see her police horse again. Once again our staff contacted her police colleagues, they arranged for her police horse to come into the ambulance bay and she was taken down on her bed to say her goodbyes. I know the NHS does not always get it right but please don’t anybody tell me that the NHS is completely broken and that our staff do not care.
This is a very poignant day for the people of Liverpool. 25 years ago 96 fans went to a football match and did not return home. This is a day etched in all of our memories and it has been a fight for justice that has brought both of the cities football teams together. At Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust our thoughts are with all of the people and families affected by the tragedy of that day in 1989.