"End of life care"

I along with my sister and daughter cared for my mum in her last few weeks of life. Mum expressed to the GP that she didn’t want to go into hospital again, she wanted to stay at home with her family as her and our experience had not been the best on her last admission. 

With the wonderful caring support of the Dalkeith District Nurses and Midlothian Council Carers, we were able to keep my mum at home comfortable and relatively pain free until she passed very peacefully surrounded by her family. The District nurses were kind, compassionate and very caring, they treated us all with respect and dignity, and did everything in their power to make a difficult time as easy as possible, from assessing and ordering equipment, to being there for us when we needed extra support. Nothing was a problem.

The OT’s from the home support team came and assessed what was needed and gave support and advice. The carers from Midlothian Council were wonderful and their input allowed us to have the precious quality time with mum. This made a very difficult time bearable.

I would like to thank all the staff that were involved in my mum's care at home, as without your input it would have been very difficult. I would also like to thanks the Hospital at Home team in Midlothian for their input with mum over the last few years. That service allowed her to stay at home and be looked after when she was unwell without the whole nightmare of hospital admission. I am very grateful for all the support and help I received from the community services.