Getting to know May
Meet May Pheasant our Heart Failure Palliation Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) at Isabel Hospice working within our Community Palliative Care Team.
May arrived at Isabel Hospice five years ago, an experienced CNS in palliative care, passionate about providing patient centred care. May said “the key phrase with palliative care, which I’ve never forgotten and is always in the back of my head, from Cicily Saunders, which is ‘you matter because you matter’. I will often say that to patients, because you matter, you matter to your family and you matter to me.”
In her five years at Isabel Hospice, May has provided care and support to so many patients and is now working across our catchment area to effect understanding and treatment of heart failure patients receiving palliative care.
From training district nurses, community matrons, community teams, GP’s and the integrated care board to working with and advising internal colleagues such as the Hospice at Home and Living Well with Isabel teams.
May said “we’ve changed the way we look after people with heart failure when they’re dying, actively dying and living well and a lot of what I do is raising awareness that heart failure patients should get palliative care.”
May explains that “there are many organisations that support patients with heart failure, but they don’t provide advice and support for palliative care, a lot of the time heart failure patients are referred late for palliative care or not referred at all.”
What does a day in the life of your role look like?
May said “no two days at the same but over the week I will most often always attend a cardiology multidisciplinary training each day and then I will have contact from somebody seeking specialist advice on their patient. I will often deliver education sessions and training and also regularly attend joint visits with a colleague, I audit and now I also have the reach patients.”
Isabel Hospice is the first hospice to have launched a heart failure reach programme. Facilitated by May and Emma Imam – one of our physiotherapists – it consists of a 12-week programme of exercise, relaxation and advice provided specifically for heart failure patients. The programme has already seen positive results and improvements to patients lives. May said “we hope to get the word out and encourage more hospices to run a programme like this one.”
What is your favourite part of your role?
May said “First and foremost, I still really love seeing patients and when supporting my colleagues with their specialist care, getting feedback that they’re feeling better. The other element that I really like is when I get a call – it’s often from a community matron or a district nurse – and they say ‘your teaching session really worked or really helped me’. That’s just a really nice feeling that I’ve made a tangible difference.”
