New Derbyshire nurse for Rainbows

Rainbows has a new role which will benefit babies, children and young people in Derbyshire.

Lauren Mellor, Clinical Nurse Specialist in Paediatric Palliative Care, is employed by Rainbows but works at the Royal Derby Hospital. She is part of our Nurses in Hospitals team, as well as the larger palliative Care Team based at our hospice.

Lauren works with babies, children and young people with serious and terminal illnesses, who need the support of our expert team as well as supporting referrals to our hospice.

With seven years of experience in her field, Lauren provides a different approach to care, a holistic one, which takes into account the child’s family and offers support to them too. Lauren is part of the ‘face of Rainbows’ in the hospitals but has a large expert multi-disciplinary team behind her at the hospice and across the NHS Trust.

From diagnosis to end of life, Lauren is alongside the family on their journey, parallel planning, liaising with other teams and ensuring our services and therapies are offered not only at the hospice, but also in hospital and at home.

Another aspect of her role is identifying new families, reaching out to those who may not know about our charity, and making sure they are referred to us to access the support they need. She can explain the wide range of services available and what can be offered at home or in hospital. She is also an advocate for families and bridges the gap between services to ensure they are being cared for in their preferred place.

Lauren said: “It is about helping the families, in hospital and out and about in the community, to find a way through the stress and emotions of caring for their child. This role is all about very important choices for the families, ones they may not have known existed – whether that is hospice, hospital or home.

“This is a unique role and my vision is to support families in Derbyshire to access Rainbows. Many families may not know about Rainbows, and that they can have support from our charity even if they can’t access the hospice building in Loughborough. And for people who do know of Rainbows, they may not know what is on offer and how we can help them.”