Kate’s Home Nursing is a local charity, employing the services of registered nurses to care for people in their own homes through the last stage of illness, offering support and care for the patient, their family and carers. In addition to nursing, we offer respite care, bereavement support and some holistic therapy.
We work very closely with the District Nursing Service, our local GPs and other multi-disciplinary teams to provide our nursing service for our local community.
I will never forget the relief I felt when you were with us. You made him so comfortable and treated him with such love and tenderness.”
Kate’s Home Nursing was formed when Kate King, a resident of Stow on the Wold was unable to remain at home being cared for during her final days of life because there was no national or local provision to enable this. Sadly for Kate, even though her needs were fairly simple, her wishes could not be accommodated and she died in a local cottage hospital.
However, Kate left a challenge; in her will she bequeathed a dresser to be sold and the proceeds to be used to create a charity to provide for others the care she so desperately wanted. Kate’s advice to the friend tasked with this was to ‘take a step of blind faith’ and so, with the help of some local people and Stow Surgery, in November 1996 Kate’s Home Nursing was formed.
When the charity began we looked after patients registered with Stow on the Wold surgery. In 1999 we began to accept referrals for people living within 15 miles of Stow, in Bourton on the Water, Northleach, Moreton in Marsh and Burford. In 2011 we stretched that boundary again to 20 miles and incorporated Winchcombe surgery.
The care they received was excellent and at just the right level for their requirements.”
Our intention is to remain a local charity, looking after local people so it is unlikely that our area will be increased again, although we will continue to consider how we can develop the services we offer within our area.
During the first few years our patient numbers were minimal, 2-3 a year and grew slowly; in 2001 we received 11 referrals. Also in 2001 the decision was taken for us to provide nursing care 24 hours a day. Since then our service has grown and developed whilst remaining a service for our local communities. Today we provide approximately 6000 hours of nursing care each year for around 160 people, plus complimentary therapies and bereavement support for families and carers
We receive some support from official sources, but still have to raise about 85% of our funds ourselves and so depend on the wonderful generosity of the people, mainly local, who support us through donations, legacies and fundraising events.
Your quiet professionalism and respect for us all was so much appreciated and made a traumatic time more bearable.”
We are proud to have five ‘Queens Nurses’ in our team of carer’s.
The QNI (Queens Nurses Institute) a charity originally founded to organise the training of District Nurses and this was its core function until the 1960s, in a model that was copied across the world. It was instrumental in developing a comprehensive, highly-skilled service to meet the healthcare needs of millions of people every year.
The charity traces its origins to 1887 with the grant of £70,000 by Queen Victoria from the Women’s Jubilee Fund. A Royal Charter in 1889 named it ‘Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses’ and gave it the objectives of providing the ‘training, support, maintenance and supply’ of nurses for the sick poor, as well as establishing training homes and establishing branches.
Today, to be awarded the title of a Queens Nurse, is a highly acclaimed award for achievement in the nursing field with an impressive criteria of achievements to even be considered for the title.
You made a seemingly unbearable time bearable with the calmness, kindness and grace you each brought every time you visited our house.
A Queen’s Nurse is someone who is committed to high standards of practice and patient-centred care. They are trusted and valued by their patients and respected and admired by their peers. They are enthusiastic and passionate about the care they provide.
The Queen’s Nurse title is not a qualification, and it is not a requirement to help you to take on a particular role. It is a commitment to quality care, advocacy for patients, families and carers, and to learning and development.
A Queen’s Nurse:
- Demonstrates integrity, honesty and compassion whilst delivering the highest quality care to the benefit of individuals, their families and carers, and their peers
- Communicates in a manner which engenders the trust of individuals
- Offers holistic, personalised care which acknowledges, and is tailored to, the needs of the client
- Acts as an inspiring role model to peers and professional colleagues
- Is committed to learning and the development of community nursing.
The title gives special recognition of their commitment to their profession.
How to Contact Us
For all fundraising and general enquiries, please in the first instance contact:
Sue Hutt
Office Manager
By phone: 07841 025909
By e-mail: info@kateshomenursing.org
