Going on one last family holiday. Spending Christmas at home with family and friends. Receiving a visit from a beloved pet. Not things you’d expect from a hospice – but at St Michael’s Hospice they’re part of everyday life. 

We spoke to Isae, a consultant in palliative medicine at the hospice, about his role supporting patients both on the in-patient unit and living at home. 

Tell us about your role at St Michael’s Hospice 

I’m a consultant in palliative medicine, which means I look after people with serious illnesses and help them to live as well as possible. This often involves managing symptoms like pain and breathlessness but, just as importantly, it’s also listening, supporting, and making sure an individual’s wishes and preferences are respected. 

I work with and support an amazing team as well. They include doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, paramedics, social workers and therapists, and together we make sure the care we provide really is of high quality. An important part of my role is also working in partnership with colleagues in the community, such as GPs and acute hospital settings to manage patients. 

I’m also involved in education and supporting doctors in training, who rotate through the hospice and are involved in caring for our patients. 

Can you tell us what a typical day would look like to you? 

One of the parts of my job that I really enjoy is being able to work in different care settings. It often involves seeing patients at the hospice in-patient unit, in hospital, or in the community in their own homes. I spend time with them prescribing or changing medication to help with their symptoms, but also answering any questions they might have, reassuring them about the support that we provide. 

Family and other people close to the patient play a huge part in the person’s care too, so supporting them is a big part of what we do. 

We once had a person who was really missing their horse. So, with the help of our incredible team, everyone got together and we arranged for the horse to visit the hospice and the garden. It was really nice seeing the person’s face light up when they saw their beloved pet. It was a reminder of how powerful situations can be, and what a difference it really makes to a person’s life. 

We could see the difference it made – really see how animated the patient was, and how it lifted her mood and her spirits that day. And it really felt like she had done something that she really wanted to do. That was memorable for me. 

What has surprised you most about working for a hospice? 

I’ve worked for the hospice for some time now and always appreciate the feedback we get from patients and their families about the environment and the kindness that they experience and encounter when they’re here. We have comments like, “It feels like a home away from home” and “everyone’s very friendly from the moment you enter the hospice”. 

We come across real ‘wow’ moments every now and then. They remind us of special things that hospices do and how multidisciplinary working can make a difference to patients and those close to them. 

I remember supporting a person who was in the hospice, to be able to go on holiday with their young family. By supporting her to be as well as she could be, we enabled that holiday to happen. It involved a lot of planning, ensuring that they were well and the symptoms were controlled, but also ensuring we covered every eventuality. I’m certain we helped to offer an opportunity to create memories, and I felt proud being able to play a part in supporting that patient and their family. 

What does it mean to you to support people where you live? 

I think it’s a privilege to be able to care for people in my own community. It means keeping care close to home, making a huge difference to the community, and being able to visit patients who are in my local area just means a lot to me. 

What are you proud to have enabled for someone? 

For me it is being able to make possible what really is meaningful to patients and their family members. It might seem like something small, but if it’s very meaningful to that person, I’m very proud to be supporting it. 

We’ve been able to support weddings here at the hospice, and also helped to plan Christmas celebrations, blessings, visits from pets – even a python! 

Hospice care isn’t just about the end of life – it’s about making the most of every day. Find out more about our services. St Michael’s Hospice supports the whole of Hastings and Rother and all services are free of charge.