Donate to our nurses

I arrive at the hospice at 7.45pm to receive a handover from the day team. They will advise me of certain patients they think I may hear from in the night as they are aware their condition is deteriorating. 

After planning the start of my evening, I set the phone to divert to the mobile and head off to see my patients.

Each night I receive calls from patients who may need some advice or guidance, but there are others who are in crisis and need me to come to their homes and support them.

Mountbatten covers the whole Island, and there are over 2,000 patients we have on our records, so I could hear from anyone during the night. I can spend quite a bit of time travelling between visits and during that time I am still answering calls.

I may be answering calls from family members who need some advice, or they could need me to come to their home and administer medication such as a syringe driver. I also receive calls from patients that live in a nursing home and the staff there need some specialist advice and look to Mountbatten for support.

It may be that I receive an urgent call and I may be unable to be at the house as quickly as I would like. In these moments I will call the specialist paramedic who will be able to be there quicker, and I will liaise with them until I can reach the home. Some people think they can’t call at night and will wait until the morning. I want people to know we are here and to call if they need support any time.

Our team is an emergency team and on visits I will carry out urgent assessments and identify any change in the patients’ needs to see if they need any specialist pain management. Some patients may still be having active treatments for their condition like chemotherapy, and this will be a part of their assessment to ensure I provide the best care for the patient. 

After my night visits, I head back to the hospice for a much-needed cup of tea and to write up my notes. The day team then starts heading in to take over, and we have a handover at 8am.

I am part of a great team; we all support each other and know when to step in if one of us has had an emotional shift.

Thank you for taking an interest in our night shifts, it means so much to us to be Mountbatten nurses and to have the support of people like you.