Building a unique, tranquil and peaceful environment at Forest Holme Hospice

Talbot Village Trust supported Forest Holme Hospice during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently helped the charity to purchase two new specialist hoists as part of a refurbishment programme completed in October 2023.

The Charity officially launched in April 1994 to enhance the provision of palliative and end-of life-care and since then donations from supporters have helped the hospice to care for over 30,000 patients and their families.

Formerly known as Friends of Forest Holme, Forest Holme Hospice Charity has grown to meet the increasing demand for the hospice services, led by a range of specialist care teams who provide practical and emotional support for adults of all ages and their families in a variety of settings.

Forest Holme offers counselling support and provides training and development opportunities to nurses specialising in palliative care, ensuring that the hospice and its staff is equipped with high quality care skills for the future.

Hannah O’Hare, Chief Executive, says: “At Forest Holme, our vision is that every adult affected by life-limiting illness has access to the support and services that they need – whether that’s at home, a nursing home, care home, in hospital or here at our palliative care unit, Forest Holme.

“Our client patients have access to our complementary therapy and counselling support services, which we’ve worked to enhance over the past few years, and of course through the completion of our refurbishment programme last year, patients will now feel even more comfortable in the hospice’s dedicated in-patient ward.

“Thanks to the kind donations from funders and fellow charitable organisations like Talbot Village Trust, we’ve been able to make significant and much-needed changes to our facility, including funding important improvements like two new specialist hoists for patients.”

The charity’s core mission looks to support individuals and families through palliative and end-of-life care, provided by specialists like Tanya Hoyle, Development Nurse in the End-of-Life and Palliative Care team.

“My role is predominantly based with the end-of-life team here. I’m very grateful to Forest Holme for funding my position, as it’s always an area that I’ve dreamt of working in and I’m privileged to work in this development post. Having two end of life nurses in this role enables us to spend quality time delivering the really, really good standard of hospice care that every individual deserves, regardless of the setting they are dying in, or who they will be spending their last days to hours with.

“There are so many things about my role that bring joy to me and to the family I’m providing care for. I was supporting a lady in the acute trust recently who just wanted to have her hair washed then sit outside and eat ice cream with her family, her daughters, her grandchildren and her dogs. We were able to facilitate that, and that made a massive difference to the individual we were supporting and her loved ones.

“Forest Holme is such a special and unique place to work in – the hospice is calm, unique and tranquil. The teams we work with, the things that we can facilitate and make happen for those people in their last hours to days of life is wonderful. It not only ensures that we facilitate what matters, but it also lives on in the memories of those that are bereaved.”

The hospice’s nursing team are further supported by two qualified counsellors, who help patients to deal with the complex range of emotions, anxieties and experiences associated with life-limiting and terminal illness.

Dania Moussalli, Counsellor and Bereavement Co-ordinator, explains: “I’ve worked at Forest Holme for more than ten years. My role is to work with patient clients that have been diagnosed with cancer or terminal illness.

“The benefit that we give client patients is to offer them the space to be able to explore their often-traumatic experiences and to help them to find ways of managing them. This work is vital for the benefit of client patients. Often people can be highly anxious with what is happening to them, or throughout the grieving process. It’s a collaborative work to listen, see what they need, and work together to try to find strategies to help them to manage it.

“I’m really pleased that Forest Holme is helping to run a targeted bereavement group where people keep in touch with each other and spend weekends away together. This is a really positive story about what Forest Holme can offer patients.

“What I really appreciate is the fact that we work together as a team and however we’re supported, whether that’s financially, or as a group, whatever we need, the team is there to support us. I’m really amazed at the dedication of the team, their enthusiasm and passion for the work that they’re doing.”

While the hospice facility is part of University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, Forest Holme needs to raise more than £1million annually to continue delivering its high-quality care when and where it counts.

Looking to the future, Forest Holme Hospice is working to develop and strengthen further partnerships with University Hospital Dorset and Macmillan Caring Locally, as well as expand the scope of its current outreach programmes. The charity has also launched a befriender service, with further investment into bereavement support and community nursing care.

Read more about Forest Holme Hospice.