We recently caught up with Amy Malburn, Our incredible Midnight Moo leading, London Marathon running, Willen at Home Lead Nurse for the latest Friends of Willen supporter magazine.
Tell us about yourself…
“I qualified as a nurse in 1992 and after 2 years working in surgery, spent 14 years working in Intensive Care and loved it. I realised that what I found the most satisfying was being there for people when they were in crisis; supporting their family and making things the best I could for the patient and their loved ones. I then moved into a Chemotherapy role and whilst completing a degree in Cancer Care, undertook a Palliative Care module. It was during this time that I transferred to Willen Hospice and had originally planned to stay for just 6 months’ experience. However, once I joined the In-Patient Unit I knew straight away this was where I was meant to be. That was just over 11 years ago and I haven’t looked back.”
What does Willen at Home mean?
“Willen at Home (WAH) is a community-based, multi professional, palliative care team consisting of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Registered Nurses, Healthcare Assistants and Specialists. We cover Milton Keynes and surrounding areas served by MK GP practices. We care for patients in the community through phone support or home visits and we work collaboratively with GP’s, District Nurses, carers, and the teams at the hospital as well as our own In-Patient Unit and Therapeutic and Wellbeing teams to provide the best care for patients.”
Why is it important we offer this service?
“In the early days, community-based Hospice care focused on supporting patients in the last few weeks of their lives, ensuring they could be comfortable and could stay at home to die, if that was their choice. However, as our service and demand for it has grown exponentially over the years, we are now able to offer much earlier intervention and help sign-post patients to our many supporting services to help them live well. We provide a specialist service and our expert Clinical Nurse Specialists are able to prescribe medication, which means we can support patients with the drugs they need when they need them, without taking up GP time. This obviously has a significant benefit for our wider healthcare system.”
What do you love most about working for Willen?
“So many things, but if I had to choose I would say it’s the time we can to give people and the fact that we are able to take a holistic approach here, looking at the whole person and developing a personalised care plan. Nurses join this profession to care and we really get to do that in its true sense here. It really is a special place to work and I’m lucky to be part of an amazing team.”
Huge thanks to Amy, for talking so passionately about her role and the Hospice. If you’re looking for more information about our Willen at Home service, you’ll find it here.
