Patients
Our Services
Ngā mahi manaaki
We offer a range of services and support to ensure patients receive the very best specialist palliative care with compassion, dignity and respect.
Specialist nurses
Our palliative care specialist nurses work alongside our medical team to provide expert holistic nursing care. They take a lead role in assessment, planning and coordination of your individual palliative care needs.
The focus is on supporting patients to live their life as comfortably as possible and to ensure patients and their whānau get the practical help and emotional support they might need.
Our nurses are also supported by health care assistants in the community and in our InPatient Unit to deliver specialist palliative care and support.
Specialist medical team
Our medical team includes specialist palliative care doctors and nurse practitioners, who provide an additional level of expertise in managing complex symptoms and situations. They work closely with our specialist nurses and your GP to ensure your symptoms are managed adequately to promote quality of life.
InPatient Unit
Our InPatient Unit provides a supportive environment with round-the-clock expert care and wraparound support. The focus is on symptom management to maintain quality of life or care in the last days of life.
Occupational therapy
Our occupational therapists help patients maintain independence and quality of life. They can provide equipment, advice and support to enable patients to remain in their home. Our occupational therapists work alongside patients and anyone providing care to offer practical advice and solutions.
Collaboration with other health professionals
We work very closely with other health professionals and providers in Hawke’s Bay, including Central Hawke’s Bay and Wairoa, to provide specialist palliative care advice and clinical support.
Counselling
Our counselling team provide a safe, confidential space to talk about what you’re experiencing. Support can change over time and may start, pause or restart as your needs change. Seeking counselling is a positive step for your wellbeing.
Counselling can help process emotions related to losing independence, coming to terms with dying and adapting to changes in your quality of life.
Music therapy
Music can be a powerful way to express yourself, process emotions, and connect with meaningful memories. Whether you are creating music or simply listening, it can offer comfort and a sense of connection.
Our registered music therapist works alongside you in your home, school, or at Cranford Hospice, shaping sessions around your interests and needs.
Music therapy can:
- encourage self-expression and support emotional processing
- stimulate memories and strengthen connection with loved ones
- help reduce anxiety and promote a sense of calm
- create space to slow down, helping you tune into your body and the present moment.
Interactive drawing therapy
Gain insight into yourself and your feelings through interactive drawing therapy. You don’t need any artistic ability to benefit from interactive drawing therapy. The focus isn’t on making art, but using words, images and feelings to help you gain a better understanding of yourself.
Spiritual care
Connecting with your spirituality can help improve your wellbeing. Spiritual care acknowledges and nurtures your uniqueness. Our spiritual carer will listen with compassion and support as patients and loved ones reflect and explore their own sources of peace, comfort and hope.
We have links with the diverse faith communities of Hawke’s Bay and can contact other faith leaders if required.
Social work
We work alongside patients and whānau to help them feel informed, involved, and able to make decisions about what is happening. Our social workers can connect people with the right services, whether that is within Cranford Hospice or through partner organisations.
We offer a wide range of assistance.
- Advance care planning, future and contingency planning for patients as their illness progresses.
- Funeral and estate planning.
- Guidance navigating New Zealand’s health, legal, and social care systems.
- Family meetings and mediation.
- Liaising and connecting you with external services and community resources.
- Counselling and therapeutic support.
Kaitakawaenga | Māori liaison
We are committed to providing culturally grounded care for Māori, ensuring you feel respected, informed, and supported in the choices you make for yourself and your whānau.
Our Kaitakawaenga works alongside the whānau, helping them understand the services available and connecting them with the right people and resources.
Kaitakawaenga can provide:
- guidance in navigating the services we offer
- care coordination
- bereavement care and tautoko when preparing for tangihanga
- connections to Māori support services and community networks
- future planning, support and guidance
- a trusted, neutral person to kōrero with.
Community support
Emotional support is available throughout the palliative care journey. Our trained volunteers provide a safe space to explore a person’s thoughts and feelings. Community support is available face-to-face or overt the phone.
Life review
Recording memories, thoughts and feelings, photos, and memorabilia can enhance the meaning and quality of a patient’s life and provide an ongoing legacy. We offer a range of life review options to suit the needs of our patients.
