Our Projects

The monies raised by local fundraisers, donations and grants for LLMF in the past 20 years has supported a wide variety of different equipment requests and projects.

The special project funding by LLMF has been critical and has made huge differences to the quality of life of so many of our hematology patients and their families. We all treasure the NHS, however these projects could not have happened without our financial support.  The results of these projects which are carefully evaluated and if they demonstrate a benefit and cost effective service for the patients, the health board will then be able to take them forward.

Community Nursing Development Project (CND project)

The CND project is the largest funded project we have supported to date. Following the success of the LLMF funded project for the Community Phlebotomy Service (see below) it was always hoped to take community care for hematology patients further and the CND project was proposed.

The project started in 2015 and ended in March 2019, when having proven to be successful was fully integrated with services provided by the Haematology Dept. The vision was to be able to offer patients the opportunity to have their non-complex chemotherapy treatment administered at home by a specialist nurse. The nurses also do community visits to the more frail and immobile patients who are unable to attend formal OPD clinics.  During these visits they are able to assess the holistic needs of the patient and speak with family members on their preferred option of how to manage their haematological condition without the often challenging experience of attending the hospital.   Further to this, telephone support is given to patients on a day to day basis as required.

In addition the team currently manages in excess of 600 haematology patients in their telephone clinics. These telephone clinics aim to provide a consistent approach to reviewing an individual’s needs, with easy access to the outpatient clinic as required.  This service helps reduce hospital appointments for the patients and also therefore assists in addressing any capacity challenges within the Haematology outpatient service. The team regularly updates the trustees of their current workload and the feedback from the users of the service. The results are already indicating what a fantastic difference this makes to patients lives.

Outstanding aid has been received from local fund-raisers and donors towards the £250,000 cost of this project. There was also a generous grant of £25,000 from The Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund.

Community Phlebotomy Service

The first LLMF funded project was started back in 2001 with the setting up of a Community Phlebotomy Service. One of the realities of being a hematology patient from Ward 11 patient is the ubiquitous blood test, and when you’re feeling weak and quite unwell, travelling to Singleton for this important but repetitive ritual is a burden you could really do without. In conjunction with the Local Health Authority this project helped finance two Community Haematology Support Workers, which meant that patients too unwell to travel to hospital could have their blood tests performed at home. When it started the service was unique to Wales, (possibly even unique to the UK). The nurses were able to assess the patient’s condition at home and communicate this to directly to the ward and this has made a huge improvement to patients’ quality of life enabling them to spend more time in comfort at home. It also reduced the workload of the unit at the hospital. Most importantly it makes a difference to patients who are appreciative of the service provided. The project was demonstrated to be so effective that it was adopted by the Health Board and now is standard practice. Without LLMF funding this would not have been possible.