The charity Sue Ryder has this week launched a significant expansion of its specialist palliative and end-of-life care services across Berkshire West and South Oxfordshire. The new services, commissioned by the NHS, are designed to reach more people with life-limiting conditions, allowing them to access expert support closer to their homes.
A New Model of Integrated Care
This initiative forms part of a fresh ten-year partnership between Sue Ryder and the National Health Service. The expanded provision aims to directly address the growing demand for complex palliative care, driven by an ageing population living longer with serious illnesses. Around 5,000 people in the Berkshire West and South Oxfordshire area are currently living with life-limiting conditions, a number that is steadily rising.
Louise Lucio, Regional Director for Sue Ryder South East, explained the core goal: "This is about making sure people in our local communities can get specialist care at the right time and in the right place." She emphasised that by integrating services across a wider geography, the charity can support more people from diverse communities.
Key Components of the Expanded Service
The newly launched services represent a comprehensive upgrade to local palliative care provision. Patients and healthcare professionals will benefit from several new offerings:
- A brand-new 24/7 clinical advice line dedicated to Sue Ryder patients and local healthcare staff.
- A new Hospice at Home service for Berkshire West, complementing the existing service in South Oxfordshire.
- A Single Point of Access for care coordination, operational from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, covering both Berkshire West and South Oxfordshire.
- Enhanced regional services for wellbeing, therapies, bereavement support, and lymphoedema care, with lymphoedema support newly available in Berkshire West.
Supporting Patients and Easing Hospital Pressure
The redesigned services have a clear focus on enabling patients to remain at home where possible and appropriate. This approach is intended to provide timely, tailored support for families, which in turn supports earlier discharge from hospital and can help reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
"Sue Ryder’s new-look services will help people remain at home where possible, supporting earlier discharge from hospital and reducing hospital admissions by providing timely, tailored support for families," added Louise Lucio.
The services, which began rolling out this week, will allow more patients to receive specialist care in their own homes, in community settings, or in hospice and community hospital beds. This expansion is set to improve comfort, symptom management, and emotional support for both patients and their loved ones.
Coverage includes Reading, Wokingham, Newbury, Wallingford, Henley, and surrounding communities. The provision encompasses specialist community nursing, hospice at home support, inpatient care at the Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent Hospice in Reading, and community beds at Wallingford Community Hospital. Referrals to Sue Ryder’s South East services can be made by a patient's GP or hospital team.
