75. The many voices of the Myton Hospices - A Podcasthon special

What does hospice care really look like?

What if hospice care isn't about the end of life - but about helping people live well for as long as possible?

In this special Podcasthon episode of Wild Card – Whose Shoes?, Gill Phillips visits The Myton Hospices in Warwick and brings together the voices of staff, volunteers, families and community supporters who make the hospice what it is.

Podcasthon is a global initiative bringing together thousands of podcasts around the world for one week each year, all dedicating an episode to a charity they care about. The aim is simple: to use the power of podcasting to raise awareness, spark conversations and support organisations doing vital work in their communities.

Totally aligned to 'Whose Shoes?' values.

For Gill, choosing Myton was easy.

Gill's own mum died there in 2017, and the experience further shaped her understanding of what compassionate care really means.

In this episode you’ll hear from Olivia, a registered nurse and Community Engagement Manager, Julie, Senior Staff Nurse, Kay, a Telephone Support Volunteer and volunteer Receptionist, Anil, Head of Retail, Holly, Director of Marketing and Communications - and members of the wider community who support Myton in different ways. 

Along the way, we discover how hospice care often begins much earlier than people expect. We hear about small moments that make a huge difference for families, from late-night conversations to Prosecco parties, beach days and even a virtual trip to the Grand Canyon.

This episode is about the whole community - we can all play a part.

Because The Myton Hospices isn’t just a place.  It’s a network of human kindness. 

And perhaps most importantly, it reminds us that hospice care is not only about dying well – but about living well for as long as possible.

🍋💡🍋Lemon Lightbulbs

💡 Hospice care often starts much earlier than people expect – early support can transform people’s experience

💡 Supporting carers helps patients too – helping someone become a daughter or husband again, not just a carer

💡 A hospice isn’t defined by medical tasks – it’s the human moments people remember forever

💡 Creativity makes a difference: motorbikes, beach days and even virtual visits to the Grand Canyon.

💡 Volunteers are often the first friendly voice people hear – and sometimes the one they recognise instantly.

💡 Community support comes in many forms: shops, events, legacies, and organisations finding their own ways to help.

💡 Hospice care is truly holistic – caring for the whole person and the people around them.

💡 Many families say: “We wish we’d known about hospice support sooner.”

💡 When care is compassionate and personal, it can shape not only a good death – but a good bereavement.

LINKS

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Transcript

00:11  Olivia

Hospices are about so much more than a place where people come at the very end of life to die. We really, really are about helping people to live well for longer with their illness.

00:24 Olivia

How do we raise awareness about our services to ensure that we're getting people earlier on, appropriately supporting them with their well being and quality of life?

00:36 Kay

Now, when I ring them, they'll say, oh, okay, which is really nice, because they're obviously, at the beginning, they've really got a mighty number, but now they recognize the voice and everything.

00:48 Julie

And then they come here, and it's and it's like the dust starts to settle, and they can, they feel this peace.

01:00 Gill Phillips

And my mum died here in the room at the far end down there. And my mum, like everybody, had a lot of idiosyncrasies. And, you know, I can just think how much it felt like her and being looked after and cared for in the way that she needed to be. She was incredibly independent, and the staff who were just wonderful, really wonderful.

01:29 Gill Phillips

So this month is the global podcast on an opportunity to support your favorite charity with a dedicated Podcast. I'm Gill Phillips, welcome to an episode of The Wild Card whose shoes podcast that's a little different.

01:47 Gill Phillips

I have been a champion of might and hospices for many years, but have an even more special bond with them since they cared for my lovely mum in her final days. So it was a huge honor to go out and meet with some of the staff and volunteers and chat about what they do and how we can all support them. Great hospices like mighton bring such respite to people who are facing terminal illnesses and offer peace and healing for their families and friends. And I am just so grateful

02:21 Gill Phillips

again and again, one idea kept coming up that hospice care often begins much earlier than people expect.

02:33 Olivia

My name is Olivia, and I work at myton. I've been working for about nine years at myton, and predominantly my role is looking at, how do we raise awareness about our services to ensure that we're getting people earlier on, appropriately supporting them with their well being and quality of life? So through that, what we do is we reach out to a variety of different clinicians as well as healthcare workers as well as the public to identify, how will they be more informed about our services? Because we know early intervention with palliative care have a massive impact on a preferred place of care, offering preferred choices earlier on to reduce potential crisis, to reduce their suffering and to get the appropriate symptom control management that they need. So by doing that is about going out to people to feel more confidence in their making informed choices to enable clinicians to best manage the patient, because they know what type of resources are out there within the palliative care field. Yeah, prevention is absolute key. It really is, and that's where we would say, go out to an ambulance team and upskill their knowledge and their awareness of what services are out there, and that's really important, because they can then champion our services and inform patients and their loved ones all about what support is out there. So that's real key is to be proactive, and that's where the clinic sits. The clinic is actually supporting people who've got a diagnosis of a life limited condition, who may be prognosis of years to months, may be in a reasonably comfortable, stable state that's just slowly deteriorating, and those conversations are really important to have then, so they feel in control. They know what services around them, and they can tap into them earlier on, and there's a lot of research that supports that, that suggests that the earlier person has this information, the more likely they will access earlier support in palliative care, which then has a massive impact in their overall ability to make good decisions in.

05:00 Gill Phillips

Into avoiding going into hospital unnecessarily, and also to adhere to their preferred place of care and place of death. So it has a massive impact going upstream earlier on, and that's where we are supporting, say GPS, to be able to refer appropriately into our clinics. Recently, we won the hospice UK award for innovation of care, which was really exciting for these clinics. And as a result of that, we've had a very strong interest from other hospices all around the United Kingdom contacting us to see if they can replicate that model within their community, which is really exciting because it's such a unique clinic.

05:45 Holly

So in terms of a bigger picture of mighton hospices and hospice care in general, there's quite a misconception often about what hospice care is and what it isn't. And I'm hoping that this podcast can really help raise awareness of that wider role that's come through so clearly, the holistic care. What can you tell us about that? Holly? There's definitely lots of misconceptions around hospice care, and as you say, what it is and what it isn't. And that's a huge part of my job, and my team's job is to really try to raise awareness of what hospices actually do, how they can help people, when they can help people,

06:28 Gill Phillips

and once people arrive, something shifts care becomes less about services and more about people.

06:41 Julie

And I'm a senior staff nurse here, so, you know, just part of a more senior team on the unit. But basically, we're all a team, all of us, you know, the nursing assistants, the nurses, whatever you level, we're all a team. It feels like that. It never felt like a hierarchical No I mean, there always has to be somebody that is deemed in charge. Yeah, so, but, but, yeah, it's very much about working as a team.

07:11 Kay

I worked on reception now probably four years. I just love the interaction with people actually, and also the empathy with the visitors when they've come out of seeing their relatives. I also volunteer on a Thursday as a telephone support volunteer. So I've got seven clients that I speak to on a regular basis. I love doing that. That's exactly what we're doing here, chatting, yes, yes. So we never speak about anything clinical. It's all just I know about Netflix. What Netflix I like? I know how many grandchildren they've got, so it's just a chatty thing. Really.

07:49 Olivia (with Gill interjections about her mum)

It's very hard with patients with palliative care, the level of complexity requires somebody to be present with them and to pick and unravel things, because they're all interconnected, aren't they? They really are. And I love the fact that you support carers to that extent, because if you support the carer, then obviously you're supporting the person themselves. Yeah, and that's our plus. What palliative care is all about. It's holistic, multidisciplinary approach, and the sooner we can support person, the sooner we can support the carer the family, and by doing that, we can reduce potentially complex bereavement as well, because we can offer pre bereavement and post bereavement support. And I think that is so important to enable a person not to get unwell themselves, to experience burnout, but actually to be able to offload, to feel valued as a carer, but also to know that they have the support after somebody has died, is that they can interlink back into my turn so we act as a support system for as long as they need. And it shows and it took me to another kind of memory, really. I did a who shoes workshop with London Ambulance Service around end of life care, right? And I remember somebody saying, somebody who'd been very much helped by them, and they're quite extraordinary as well. I think might. And London Ambulance Service, you know, in the different fields, are the ones that sort of jump out to me, is really making a tremendous difference. And I remember this guy saying, a good death means a good bereavement, yes. And, I mean, I was very, very close to my mom, and I felt that was really the case for me, because if she'd gone down a different pathway to use the jars and ended up in hospital, if things had gone quite pear shaped. I mean, she was incredibly independent person. She'd have been very, very unhappy, and it would have made a very different bereavement experience for me, whereas, as it was, I can remember now sitting out on that patio with my best friend from school, who'd come up from London, because she'd known Munt since she was 11, right? And.

10:00 Olivia

It creates those different memories, doesn'tit? Absolutely and it's important for us to recognize that when a person presents to us whose a carer, what we try to do is, we know the Carol is so important, but we want person to develop the space and the time through our support, not just become a carer, but become that daughter again, yes, to be able to spend that quality time again. So if we are able to alleviate some of the carers duties to enable space so they can spend some quality time together, that's what we want to create, and that helps within the bereavement process, because you're spending special time, you're not being exhausted as a full time carer or feeling guilty that you might have been a bit short with your mum for one moment last week Exactly, we can say, let's come in. Let's have a cup of tea, have a chat, and you can offload to us, or you can maybe come to one of our carers support groups and meet other carers are going through the same thing. Because, as you know, being a carer can be quite isolating. It really can. Yeah, and

11:10 Gill Phillips

then came the stories, the moments families carry with them long after everything else fades. You

11:23 Julie

the way we do things is quite flexible as well, and we want, we want families to you know, for example, if you've got a dog at home, bring your dog in, we make the person's room. It is their room for them to use with their family, and you don't get that in the hospital environment. So that's really it's beautiful. And something that really moved me

11:53 Julie and Gill

this year was one of the senior nurses has got this real gift for creating a beautiful Christmas environment. Yeah, and she did one for Remembrance Day. And honestly, it was, it was so moving. She'd got like a row of poppies that were just draping from the wall, as if they were on a wave. It looked like a wave coming across the wall and all the, you know, the union jacks, everything, and it was the most beautiful thing. And as a nurse here, I felt really proud and proud for the effort you know, that goes into recognizing what's going on in our year calendar, if you like, and bringing it here for everyone to share in that. You know, things like that are different, aren't they? They make those periods so special. They really do those people will remember that forever. And one of the memories that I've got just making me smile. There is we had in that little room down there a Prosecco party for my mom, because some key family members had come at that particular moment. And it was obviously lovely in itself. And it's about the last memory really, of actually, really involving mum. But it was also funny, because she'd been in assisted living accommodation, and she had three months before had her 95th birthday party, and she was much, much. Yeah, she was 95 and when she was 95 she was relatively quite well. So her deterioration was was quite fast at the end, which probably suited her. But for her 95th birthday party, we'd had Prosecco, but we'd had this massive debate about whether it should be Prosecco or champagne. And Nick, the manager of the assisted living, called it Prosecco gate, yeah, because the mum and her friends went on about it, I think, for so long, and just became a joke. And when we finally settled on Prosecco and the party, which is lovely, we had a string quartet, and just such lovely, lovely memories. But then we had a Prosecco party here at myton, and you know, all those memories, yeah, and they for you imagine, you know, for loved ones who were were able to facilitate something as special as that. That's and you take that with you, don't you in your grief, you've got that sort of, I imagine, like a soft sponge in your heart that that will remind you what you were able to do and how magical it was that in some cases, unfortunately, people can't always do things that that gives them a warm legacy of their loved one like that, it makes such a difference.

15:00 Julie

I remember we had a person here who his big thing was motorcycles, right? He was so and all of that. And it was facilitated. One day there was this (roaring sound of motorbike) , and the gates were opened, and this massive motorbike came into the terrace, and it was out there revving up outside the patient's room. Was beautiful and moving. Yeah, it really, I feel moved, even remembering in it. Yes, I bet you've had all sorts happening here, haven't you, for different people. Oh, yeah. And we've got another member of staff, a wonderful nursing assistant, who did a beach party, didn't she? I never saw that sand pits. I Well, were you there? Did you see it? Can you describe that? What was it? I think it stemmed from a patient maybe not being able to go on their usual summer holiday down to Devon or Cornwall that they usually take, and so the family really wanted to spend a summer with her again here at myton. So, yeah, one of our nursing assistants brought the beach to myton. So we had Sam Pitts for the paddling pool. We had some beach games, volleyball going on, water gun fights for the kids. I think even a miniature pony came along. And we had ice cream and fish and chips. And it was just, it was a lovely day for all of our patients to Joan in on their on a beach day here at MIT, and you by saying, let's bring the sea to here. Let's bring the sea to isn't that wonderful? Yeah, let's bring the sea to the place the country, where it's the furthest from the sea. Don't know about the moon, but bring the moon. And there was someone else as well that I remember who we were. We came out and had a coffee from the patient's room. I said, should we go for a coffee? We went, sat out there, and there was a nature program on the television in the bistro. And he said, Oh. He said, Do you know what he said one of my ambitions was to go to the Grand Canyon, but I guess I'll never go there now.

17:06 Julie (cont)

And I got myself thinking, and I managed to take him there through virtual reality. We managed to get a virtual reality thing, and he went to the Grand Canyon via that means, I know it's not the same, but at least it was something. Well, it's more than something. It's quite an immersive experience. Yeah, I'd experienced it myself, and it's, it is magic. So, yeah, it just shows you, doesn't it, when you put your mind to it, what you can achieve and what everybody deserves. I love it.

 17:42

Yeah, absolutely, and going back through memories and having special conversations, because that's what you will take forwards. And if we can be able to do that with our specialist advice and support, but also being a listening ear, I think is the key, being present, and we have good nurse patient ratio, so it allows us as nurses to be able to sit with not just the patient, but with a loved one, to talk about those experiences. We recognize that giving somebody say a bath can be classed as a clinical task, but however, talking to a carer is equally as important, just as much as important than, say, giving a medication. And that's what we see at my turn, is we need to be able to have that wrap around care, both to the carer and to the patient. And each moment of care is just as important as each other's Well, I'm telling you, it works. Yeah, that's good, yeah, I'm so praised.

18:47 Gill Phillips

Listening to these stories, you realize something else hospice care doesn't sit apart from the community. It grows out of it.

19:02 Anil

So in terms of our shops on the high street, they present a brand awareness as well. So with a brand awareness, it helps the charity in a number of ways, through fundraising activities and its way of people connecting with the charity as well. So being an information hub as well. So for people want to come and ask what might and do, what services we provide, we have that information within the local communities, within our catchment area, and I've felt that, you know, coming into the shops and so on. I think it's really good that you've got that sort of physical presence to get that chance to go to the shops and either as a customer, buying some things or putting money in or donating something. Is rewarding. It's this year, and what I've personally found is visiting shops is when talking to volunteers and staff, they've had some personal connection with the charity. Exactly. This is fantastic. And when talking to customers or overhearing a conversation.

Conversation, they've had a touch point with the charity at some stage or another, which is good news story, because they're coming back to the shop to spend or donate.

20:12 Gill Phillips

Support for Myton hospice comes from all kinds of places across the community, from volunteers and fundraising events to local organizations who find their own ways to help. One example is Blythe Liggins solicitors who support Myton through a special week make a will campaign.

20:33 Donna

My name is Donna Bottomley, and I'm a partner at Blyth Liggins solicitors in Leamington Spa. My firm has been involved in the Make A will week in aid of might and hospice for a long time now it's so important to make a will to ensure that when something happens to you, your estate actually goes to the people you want it to go to.

You can choose the executors to administer the estate for you, and you can also choose guardians for any children,

this campaign helps support Myton hospices as we waiver our charges for a basic will under the campaign and the charity receives an immediate donation from the client. Some people also choose to leave a gift to mighton hospice in their wills. Charities rely heavily on legacies and gifts in wills to support them for the future.

If you haven't already made a will or reviewed your will for some time, I would advise you to consider doing so.

21:30 Gill Phillips

So whether it's through volunteering, fundraising or even the way we plan for the future, the community plays a huge part in helping Myton hospice continue its work.

21:44 Holly

So we as the marketing team, work really closely with our fundraising team. So we have a team of fundraisers, and within that there's an events team, a very small team, but a team of people that are responsible for putting the events on. So marketing and events work really closely together to discuss the types of events that may be popular. We do have a series of flagship events that we tend to repeat year on year. So the sand stash, for example, is one of those, how many years is that gone? That sand stash has been going, Oh, I'd say for probably at least 10 years. And last year was our biggest ever Sam stash. So we raised the most amount of money and we had the most participants taking part. How many centers did you have? There was around 1500 centers, I believe. So, yeah, it is a lot of centers. And now, as I got out of my car, all the cars were parking. The St Peter's car park was filling up really quickly, and each car seemed to have a center or two dressed from head to toe. It was just crazy. It's such a fun event. And if anyone hasn't ever seen that event, you know, then it is a sight to behold, isn't it? As you say, just hundreds and hundreds into the 1000s of Santas. And now we get dogs dressed in Christmas outfits and people, you know how we have Alice and all sorts of takes on festive outfits. So, yeah, that is a really fun event. So that was a phenomenal event. And obviously we were lucky to get such a nice day for it as well. Yeah, how much did that raise? I mean, just in the context of having to raise a million pounds a month, yeah, the sun stash raised around £120,000, which is the most that that event has ever raised, which is absolutely phenomenal.

 Really fun event. Yeah, brilliant to raise money for Myton hospices in such a fun way. Yeah, absolutely. It's great to get her on a nice day. And yeah, seems like there'd been lots of lots of money raised for a really good cause. So really happy to take part. It was really good fun. 

Gill Phillips

You. So another example, much smaller, but in some ways just as big, because I love stuff that comes directly from the community and small people, if you like, making a difference. So I, I know I went along to I had quite a weekend about she might, might in hospice of fundraising, lots and lots of fun. The Santa Dash was on the Sunday, but on the previous day, on the Saturday, I went along to the cafe in the park. And it's a local, small cafe near us that only opens at weekends, and they were doing Carol singing to raise money for might and hospices. And I went along again with a couple of my grandchildren who so enjoyed being part of that. Lin was there as a pop up elf, so that when there were enough people in the cafe, she'd get the song sheets out, she'd get the Carol sheets out, and we'd just sing. And I think that kind of community engagement is just awesome.

25:00

So I felt really proud and had a lot of fun being part of that.

25:07 SINGING O Little Town of Bethlehem (extract))

... the silent stars go by yet in the dark streets shineth the everlasting light

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

25:36 Gill Phillips

So different roles, different experiences, but everyone was describing the same thing in their own way.

25:49 Olivia

You might find through the hospice, it's our vocation. It's not our job, it's something that we are meant to be doing.

25:58 Julie

So, you know, I think it's the can do attitude, isn't it? I feel that light and realizing that I can't do it. If I can't, yes, if I actually can't. But it might be that I can, might be that I can. Yeah, when your family come in, you then stop being a carer. You start going back to being a family member. Exactly. It gives you that break, as it was from the patient, we're always looking for different ways to be able to get the word out and hopefully make it as easy as possible for people to find out information about the support that's available to them, to their loved ones. And as you say, everyone's different. You know, some people want to sit on the internet at midnight and, you know, type away on their own. Some people want to talk to someone. Some people are really comfortable and confident, you know, having those conversations, but others aren't. So it's having a human voice, exactly, but it's really important that we offer as much choice as possible, and that links really nicely into what we stand for as a hospice. It's about choice, so people can access the services that are right for them, in the way that's right for them, in the location that's right for them. You know, we don't dictate how people get support from might, and we really do want to tailor it to them. So I've really enjoyed talking to all the people here today, and I'm going to go back to Holly, and I'm going to ask Holly, what message should we leave with people at the end of this podcast? What's the key takeaway for you? I would really just like to say that myton is here as a community asset for the people of Coventry and Warwickshire. And I would urge you, if you think that we could support you or a loved one living with a life limiting illness in any way, however that might look, to reach out to us, to go on our website, to see the services available, to take that step of asking for help and looking at how Martin can support you, because we really are here for the people of Coventry and Warwickshire and then linked into that as that important community asset, we all have a bit of a responsibility to protect this asset. And I would just also ask that if you are able help us to spread the word, help us to challenge some of those misconceptions about hospice care, if you know someone that might benefit from right and let them know. Point them to our website, give them a flyer, make a donation. Volunteer with us. If you can visit one of our shops, there are lots and lots of ways that you can help us to continue to be able to help you, and that would be my final word. Thank you for taking part in the global podcast on, let's hope we can make some impact with these wonderful conversations today. Thank you, Holly. Thank you

28:49 Gill Phillips

with very special thanks to Holly, Laura, Olivia jury, Anil Kay Leanne, basing Andrew and Donna for talking to me for this global podcast on episode and Thank you, Ruth, for heading up this wonderful organization, the mighton hospices. These were just a few of the voices of mighton hospice. I hope you found it interesting and insightful to walk in their shoes today. Thank you for being on this journey with me, and let's hope that together we can make a differenc