Homeward Bound tells the true story of Lesley and her husband Seth Goodburn who at 49 years old, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer following a short history of feeling unwell, and died just 33 days after diagnosis.
Seth's Story provides an opportunity for health and social care professionals in hospitals, trusts and universities to reflect on the importance of compassionate person- and family-centred care at the end of life.
The play draws its content from a series of letters written by Lesley after Seth's untimely death. She articulates the journey from the first signs of his illness, through diagnosis, care and treatment and after his death at their local NHS Hospital.
The play takes place predominantly in two locations: home and hospital. It portrays the very real challenges that care and treatment can bring, importantly the need for compassion, care and choice to be present throughout.
Seth's Story is funded by NHS England and is in partnership with Hospice UK, Pancreatic Cancer UK, St Giles Hospice, and Leeds Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust.
Aims of the play
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~ to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer
~ to understand the human impact of late diagnosis of disease on an individual and those important to them
~ to improve communication between professionals and individuals with life-limiting illness and their families and ensuring involvement and shared decision making
~ to improve the quality and experience of palliative and end of life care for people affected by pancreatic cancer
The workbook includes four learning units that have been designed to be used as standalone units. Together they make up a comprehensive educational learning package.
Homeward Bound provides an opportunity for health and social care professionals to reflect on the importance of compassionate person- and family-centred care at the end of life. It also helps individuals to understand how the little things are really the big things to the person who is dying and their families.
The workbook includes four learning units which are designed to be used as standalone units. Collectively they make up a comprehensive learning resource.
These can be a catalyst for learning in a variety of different ways, including individual self-learning, and an educational package for lecture practitioners, educators, and trainers. The resources are aligned to the National Health Education England core competencies.
For example, the resources could be used in the context of:
group learning via a study day;
work-based learning;
taught sessions;
part of a learning module on End of Life Care (EoLC);
short ward-based teaching session;
short burst sessions within induction training - delivering compassionate care;
clinical supervision;
leadership programmes: focused training sessions on EoLC;
professional groups.
Who these resources are for
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These learning resources will benefit all of the professional groups outlined in the End of Life Care Core Skills Education and Training Framework (2016). This framework has formed the basis of the training package - download it from the Skills for Health website.
If you are a palliative care educator this resource will provide you with a comprehensive resource to support learning. It will enable individual access to open learning and reflective practice to support revalidation.
