• Monica engaging with patients at Warkworth Day Group.
  • Jan Nichols, Chief Executive of Harbour Hospice.
  • Wayne Tokley – with all his medications.
  • At work in Hibiscus Hospice kitchen.
  • Volunteers at Milford Hospice Shop.
  • Nisha Sharma and family.
  • Chuck and Sophia – volunteers in North Shore Kitchen.

Introducing... Harbour Hospice

Three hospices – Hibiscus, North Shore and Warkworth Wellsford – come together as one

In early July the three hospices in the North Shore and Rodney areas – Hibiscus, North Shore and Warkworth Wellsford – merged to form a single charitable trust, Harbour Hospice.

Harbour Hospice has been established to share scarce resources, skill and expertise and to ensure that Hospice continues to offer the best in palliative care to patients and their families in the future.

The Boards of Trustees of the three hospices made this decision knowing that the areas they served were amongst the fastest growing in New Zealand, that the population is aging, that people live longer and have more complex conditions than before.

Another challenge Hospice faces is a nationwide shortage of Palliative Care specialist staff. Thanks to community support, and the efficiencies gained from forming Harbour Hospice there has been more investment put into training the current multidisciplinary team and those interested in upskilling in palliative care. This helps to ensure hospice can meet the increase in demand and be able to deliver services into the future.

“The whole aim of coming together as Harbour Hospice has been to direct more resources into our clinical services and to improve patient outcomes,” explains Jan Nichols, Chief Executive of Harbour Hospice. "And it is happening now."

Close to 1,250 patients and their families access free Harbour Hospice services each year. Access is not just limited to people with cancer. Last year 290 people were referred with other conditions including heart failure, neurological conditions and dementia. Many age groups are represented: 24% of all people are aged 65 and under; 20% are aged between 66 and 74 and 56% are 75 years and over. And people of many different cultures are welcomed and provided with appropriate support.

Thanks to the support of our three communities, new day programmes and services have begun at Hibiscus and Warkworth Hospices, more counselling and community nursing services are now available at North Shore and a stable and highly skilled specialist medical team has formed across the region.

A new project is looking at ways to develop an easier, speedier referral service into Hospice services that is equitable for everyone. By pooling resources dedicated to a new innovation project called Poi, Harbour Hospice have been able to offer a highly skilled and enthusiastic team to provide extra support for professionals providing end of life care in residential and primary care.

"Harbour Hospice was chosen as the name for the new organisation as it unites all the local hospices,” explained Jan Nichols. "Harbour means to shelter and it was recognised that all parts of the region covered are not far from the sea and that there are a number of safe harbours people relate to; the Kaipara Harbour, Mahurangi Harbour, Gulf Harbour and Waitemata Harbour. Hospice services also provide a safe harbour or shelter to people with life limiting illness. And in medieval times hospices were places of shelter for travellers on a difficult journey."

Harbour Hospice is ever mindful that it wouldn’t be able to fund this service without the support of a very generous and compassionate community.

“With the annual operating costs for Harbour Hospice services reaching nearly $15 million, we are extremely grateful that donors in our community, customers in our hospice shops and grants from Trusts and Foundations help to cover the 48% operating deficit we face after WDHB funding,” says Jan Nichols.

"And Harbour Hospice simply couldn’t do its work without the support of nearly 1700 volunteers who provide support in a variety of roles including household and catering support, community visiting and driving, life review, administration, fundraising and working in our hospice shops. If the volunteer contribution was valued using the minimum wage their support would equate to nearly $3.3 million annually.

"In establishing Harbour Hospice trustees and management have been very mindful to ensure that money raised in local communities is used to directly fund Hospice services for that community and so all financial systems have been developed to support this philosophy.

"Take the most recent Vintner’s Brunch, for example. This iconic annual fundraising event was held on Sunday August 5th with the $310,000 raised on the day specifically supporting community and inpatient hospice services in the North Shore area.

"Hospice is not a place, it is a philosophy of care delivered by a dedicated and professional team of caring staff and volunteers."

www.harbourhospice.org.nz