Palliative care is often misunderstood as something that only starts in someone’s final days, or when treatment is no longer an option. In reality, it’s about helping people live as well as possible for as long as possible — with comfort, dignity and support for the whole family, alongside medical care.
Emmanuela, a second-year BSc Adult Nursing student at the University of Essex, saw what that means in practice during an eight-week placement at Fair Havens, Havens Hospices’ adult hospice, in April 2026 — and it’s changed the direction she wants her career to take.
For her, growing up, death wasn’t something openly discussed. When a close relative of Emmanuela became sick, the illness was understood by her community as a spiritual matter rather than a condition that palliative care could help with. Looking back, Emmanuela believes earlier awareness of what palliative care offers might have changed that relative’s experience.
That background, combined with training mostly in acute hospital settings, shaped how she felt arriving at Fair Havens. “I initially felt fear, helplessness, sadness, and anxiety,” she says. She’d also assumed Fair Havens was NHS-funded and was surprised to learn it’s largely funded by charitable donations and provided free of charge to the people the charity cares for.
Emmanuela worked alongside a registered nurse and learned from healthcare assistants — assisting with personal care, supporting families, and taking part in ward rounds and admissions. One of her favourite parts of the day was the Breakfast Club, a simple routine that brought the team together before each shift. “It reminded me that caring for one another is just as important as caring for our patients.”
Her assessor also arranged short placements with the Community Team and a visit to Little Havens, Havens Hospices’ children’s hospice, broadening her understanding of hospice care beyond the adult inpatient unit. When shifts were hard, her supervisor made time to debrief with her, and she found her own ways to process what she’d seen — including taking a few quiet minutes to reflect.
She says, “Fair Havens did not simply provide me with a placement; it provided an environment where I felt safe to learn, supported to grow, and inspired to become the kind of compassionate nurse I aspire to be.”
She’d expected hospice care to feel like a busy hospital ward. Instead, she found something calmer. “Patients were not rushed. Personal care was not dictated by rigid schedules, but by what suited everyone.” She came to see person-centred, holistic care as more than a phrase: it meant that physical symptoms, emotional wellbeing, spiritual needs, and family relationships were all treated as equally important, with time to understand the person behind the diagnosis properly.
She’s also clear about the biggest misconception she’d correct. “Hospice care does not remove hope; it changes what hope looks like. Hope may become spending quality time with loved ones, achieving personal goals, remaining comfortable, or simply living each day with dignity.” As she puts it, “Now I understand the concept of a good death, where pain is professionally managed, dignity is preserved, wishes are respected, and people are surrounded by love.”
Emmanuela says the placement taught her skills she might not have developed elsewhere — sensitive conversations, supporting families through grief, and genuine multidisciplinary teamwork. “Above all, I learned that compassion is a clinical skill.” She now plans to pursue a master’s in palliative care after qualifying.
Her advice to other nursing students starting a hospice placement is clear: “Keep an open mind and don’t let fear stop you from embracing the experience. It is okay to cry, to reflect and to feel emotional — those experiences do not make you weak; they make you human.”
Emmanuela’s placement is a reminder of what Havens Hospices exists to do: make every day count with expert, compassionate care, for the families it supports today and for the nurses and future colleagues who will carry that care forward.
Published 24th September 2026
