Hillingdon and palliative care: Growing capacity to improve experience for patients and families

By Jane Wheeler, CEO at Harlington Hospice and Claire Eves, Service Director for Outer London Services at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

When we look across Hillingdon, we are proud to say that many of the key elements of the NHS North West London model of community specialist palliative care were already in place. What’s changed for us recently is a 50% increase in investment, and that’s made a real difference. It’s enabled our partnership to grow capacity significantly—recruiting more skilled nurses and funding vital non-clinical roles that help people navigate practical issues alongside their care.

This additional resource is already helping our teams reach people earlier, coordinate support more smoothly and strengthen the resilience of our committed workforce delivering care in people’s homes, in the community and in hospital settings.

Across Hillingdon, most of the key services that make up the agreed north west London model of care were already in place. What the investment has enabled is growth; recruitment of more skilled nurses as well as funding of team members who provide critical support on non-clinical needs. This capacity makes a real difference to patients but also supports resilience of our compassionate and committed teams.

Our community teams, provided by CNWL, Harlington Hospice and the Hillingdon Hospital palliative care team, are working closely together to expand the service, spot needs sooner and make it easier for residents to get the right support at the right time. Together, we’re focusing on continuity, dignity and communication, so the experience feels more connected for patients and their loved ones.

One piece of patient feedback that really resonated with us was:

“Each day I feel in safe hands with intimate care whilst keeping my dignity. Everyone always goes that extra mile and all go above and beyond.”

Melissa Mellett, Associate Director for Urgent and Emergency Care at NHS North West London who led development of the model of care, summed up our journey so far perfectly.

“The progress we’ve made so far is a good start and reflects the dedication of everyone involved. It’s encouraging to see positive changes taking shape, and I’m confident that this foundation will help us deliver even greater improvements for our patients and families as we move forward.”

We are excited about what we’ve achieved and even more excited about what’s ahead.