This June, Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland are looking are inviting anyone that lives locally to come to an open forum to share their experience with end of life care.

Progress happens when we learn from each other. Listening to the positive and negative experiences that people have during the end of life journey can support learning and lead to service improvements.

Working in partnership with Healthwatch Cumberland, a survey was carried out to get feedback from a variety of stakeholders and this will be valuable in achieving this.

The Lived Experience Advisory Forum (LEAF) session will be held at the charity’s office in Dalston, Barras Lane on June 13 at 2pm. The session will be supported by one of their counsellors as they understand that the bravery to share experiences, can come with strong emotions.

Ashley Macauley, Hospice at Home director of clinical, said: "We hope to build a line of communication with the community, in which we can learn from individual experiences to shape the future of Hospice at Home services. In the first LEAF we would like to listen to your experiences and identify any themes. We would like to share some internal ideas and also recommendations from our Healthwatch survey results to see if this feels of benefit to the community."

Hospice UK reports a £77 million deficit nationally in the cost of Hospice care. Hospice at Home relies on the generosity of their volunteers and supporters to help raise over 80% of the funds required to deliver care to people in their home. Hospice at Home hopes that the Lived Experience Advisory Forum will help them to shape an effective and productive service for the local community they serve.

If you would like to take part in the forum please contact Ashley Macaulay via email at: Ashley.macaulay1@hhcnl.cumbria.nhs.uk