Ongoing support for the hospice team is an important aspect of palliative care provision. It has been long recognised that working in a hospice environment can be both physically and emotionally demanding and that stress and burnout are particularly common in palliative care settings.

The organisation has a responsibility to ensure occupational stress is minimised by developing and maintaining the use of ongoing staff support systems.

To maintain and develop such systems the hospice will:

• Promote and provide robust staff support practices ensuring every team member feels supported in their role.
• Develop regular debriefing sessions to facilitate learning in complex cases.
• Promote the benefits of the Healthy Working Lives Programme to encourage self support.
• Encourage the team to engage in Health & Safety issues and policy development to provide a safe working environment.
• Enable the hospice team to access and utilise the existing staff support systems to promote well-being.
• Actively promote the Performance Development Review process to encourage individuals to identify their personal support needs.

Find out more from Fred and Cathy about what working for the hospice is like by playing the short video below.