New community partnership aims to enhance patient care
Willow Wood and GTD Healthcare have been working in partnership on an exciting 12-month pilot project, aimed at enhancing the delivery of palliative care at the Hospice.
The initiative, which began in February 2025, was developed from an idea of the Hospice’s Clinical Director Nicola Cheetham.
A passionate advocate for nursing, Nicola proposed trialling a new model of care that places a senior nurse with enhanced skills and non-medical prescribing (NMP) responsibilities alongside doctors on the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit.
Nicola said: “This collaboration builds on the success of our previous partnership in 2022, when GTD Healthcare supported our out-of-hours medical cover.
“We are excited to see how this new initiative enhances patient care and look forward to working closely with GTD Healthcare to develop further opportunities for partnership and service improvement.”
Recognising the value of this innovative idea and the challenges of implementing it, GTD Healthcare – a social enterprise that delivers GP practices, urgent care and community services across the North West – provided one of its experienced clinicians to support the pilot.
Claire Wilson, a Senior Clinical Practitioner and Specialist Palliative Care Nurse, has had a positive impact since February when she started working two days a week alongside the Hospice’s medical and nursing teams, delivering specialist palliative care within the Inpatient Unit.
Claire said: “This is such an exciting opportunity for me — it’s the first time I’ve worked in Tameside, but having worked in a hospice before, I know just how special and impactful they are.
“The team here have made me feel incredibly welcome. I see this as not just a learning opportunity for the whole team, but for me too. Ultimately, everything we do is about enhancing patient care, and I’m really proud to be part of this pilot.”
In addition, Margaret Hayes, Palliative Care Lead at GTD Healthcare, is also overseeing clinical supervision to the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit team on a monthly basis.
A full evaluation of the pilot will take place after six months but the early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Margaret commented: “This is a great opportunity for GTD Healthcare to work with our wider partners and show the wide range of knowledge and expertise that the organisation has. We are really looking forward to our ongoing work with Willow Wood and to see how the project progresses.”