31/08/2025
In a few days’ time on 2nd September, it will be 40 years since LOROS first opened its doors to the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
There’s been a lot of changes to LOROS Hospice over the past 40 years. And some of our staff have witnessed almost all of them! Ann Wells joined the nursing team in 1986, just a few months after the first patient was admitted, when she was 23 years old, with Jacky McBlain following five years later in 1990, aged 25.
We asked them about their memories of that time and what’s changed over the past 40 year for this special .
Ann: “When I started, LOROS had just opened and had 12 beds, 2 consultants, a part time physio, an art therapist, and a counsellor.”
Jacky: “I started a few years later in 1990 and by then there was a waiting list of people for the nursing jobs here. I didn’t get the job immediately – they put me on a list! Now there’s such a shortage of nurses you’d never wait!”
Ann: “I remember we used to wear a peach coloured uniform, with brown belts and brown shoes.”
Jacky: “But at least we didn’t have to wear caps!”
Ann: “I actually liked our uniform, we stood out. I always wanted to work in palliative care. When I was doing my nursing training I went to look at a hospice in Sheffield, St Luke’s and I really liked it. It was different to the NHS, friendlier.
“I came to LOROS from the renal unit at the General. LOROS was completely different, you couldn’t have had anything more different. Everywhere had carpets and it was more like home than a hospital. The feeling here was amazing, very friendly, very positive.”
Jacky: “I was working in respiratory at Glenfield. Yes, I remember the atmosphere, it was special. And the solid pine wardrobes. You couldn’t move them at all!”
“I did oncology as part of my training which made me interested in working at a hospice. When I was training I remember mixing morphine with raspberry syrup to make it more palatable. And sometimes a Brompton cocktail – which was morphine with your alcohol of choice which was thought to make a stronger pain relief!”
Ann: “There was quite a lot of young staff here in 1986 but also some older, experienced nurses who had worked at a senior level and wanted to come back to actual nursing. It was lovely, a great mix of experience and energy. I learned a lot from them.”
Jacky: “We were nursing how we were trained to. So, if you needed to take 2 hours doing a bed bath because that was the pace the patient wanted, then you did that. You had the time to do that. But then the level of need wasn’t as high then. We have to work faster now.”
Ann: “Do you remember Smudge the hospice cat – she used every one of her nine lives! She jumped through the window of the kitchen once and got her tail stuck! She used to sleep on the patients’ beds. I remember once a relative saw a mouse on the ward, so I picked up Smudge and shoved her towards it!”
Jacky: “There were far less staff so we used to socialise together. We had a fireworks night for staff, their families and patients too. We used to play rounders on the park together. Theatre trips to London. Lots of fun activities.”
Ann: “We also did lots of fundraisers – do you remember the nurses v police rugby match? I played in that!
“We arranged a lot of treats for patients, football matches and lots of other things. Going the extra mile for the patient – it felt right, and we did that a lot. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to pay for things in the same way now. We’ve had to change.
“Medicine has moved on hugely and that has had a big impact on the hospice.”
Jacky: “Oncology treatment has improved a lot, so people survive an initial diagnosis but sadly go on to develop co-morbidities, like heart failure as well as cancer, or dementia. We have to manage all of it now. Patients’ conditions are so much more complex. So that’s why everything has changed.
“We’re an aging population, so we quite often have people in their 90s now.”
Ann: “But also people in their 20s and 30s. The length of stay has changed a lot too – it used to be months, now it’s days.”
Jacky: “I still think we make a huge difference. The people we care for – they wouldn’t get that level of care anywhere else.”
Ann: “I love the job, I love the place. The families feel cared for as well and that’s really special.”
Jacky: “I also feel that when I’ve been through my own bereavements, the love and support I’ve had from my colleagues, I don’t think I would have got that anywhere else. It’s been invaluable.”
Ann: “We do care for each other at LOROS. We’re lovely.”
Jacky: “We have a greater awareness of grieving and the impact of bereavement. We’ve had the privilege to care for many of our colleagues’ relatives - and that shows how much trust there is here.
Ann: “And those colleagues come back and work here afterwards which is a testament to the care they receive.
“Lots of things have changed but the ethos at LOROS is the same. Our good care helps to make death a little easier.”
Jacky: “Our emphasis on quality of life – living the best life you can for as long as you can. And our non-judgemental approach, accepting people for who they are, regardless. That’s so important.
“Some things have changed at LOROS but I think our values have stayed just the same.”
If you’d like to send the hospice a birthday gift please make an online donation loros.co.uk/donate or purchase LOROS’ big birthday raffle tickets at loros.co.uk/raffle
