New Advanced Nurse Practitioner strengthens Palliative Care for families in Fermanagh and Omagh

A MAJOR step forward for palliative and end-of-life care in Northern Ireland has been marked with the appointment of Beragh mother of five, Marie Donnelly, as one of the region’s first Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) specialising in palliative care.

With more than 30 years of experience in nursing and palliative care, Marie recently completed a Master’s degree in Advanced Nurse Practice at Ulster University, supported by end-of-life charity Marie Curie. The new qualification enables her to bring enhanced clinical expertise directly to patients and families in the community across the Omagh and Fermanagh areas of the Western Health and Social Care Trust.

Marie Curie welcomed the partnership initiative, describing it as “the way forward for palliative care nursing.”

In her new role, Marie provides specialised care for people with palliative and end-of-life needs, primarily in community settings. As an Advanced Nurse Practitioner she can work autonomously - taking patient histories, carrying out physical examinations, prescribing medication and using her clinical judgement to treat patients, helping ensure timely and compassionate care close to home.

Speaking about her appointment, Marie expressed gratitude for the support she received along the way.

“I would firstly like to thank Marie Curie for providing me with this opportunity to complete this qualification and for the support of my Western Trust colleagues in creating this new role in specialist palliative care.”

She described the position as a collaborative one that strengthens support for patients and their families.

“This is an exciting new role where as part of a multidisciplinary team, I work alongside GP’s and Community nurses, including District Nurses, Marie Curie Community Nurses and Foyle Hospice palliative care nurses, to offer advice and support to care for patients with complex palliative and end of life care needs. Most importantly I work together with patients, families and those important to them, in the delivery of their care.”

At the heart of the role, she says, is ensuring every person receives the care they need.

“The main focus of my role is to ensure that the person’s needs are met, be that pain and symptom management or emotional needs, whereby I can autonomously assess the person, diagnosis and provide treatment.”

Marie also hopes to help shape the future of services in the region.

“Other strategic elements of my role includes the provision of education and improving services to ensure that we as healthcare professionals are providing the best possible evidence based care to the people in the Omagh and Fermanagh areas now and in to the future.”

The new post was created through a partnership between Marie Curie and the Western Health and Social Care Trust, supported by grant funding from the Community Fund.

Paula Heneghan, Associate Director of Services at Marie Curie Northern Ireland, highlighted the impact the role is already having.

“Marie’s qualification comes from two years of specialised training, supported by Marie Curie and collaboratively developed with the Western Trust. This was made possible through grant funding from the Community Fund. Together, we created the Advanced Nurse Practitioner position to enhance palliative and end-of-life care services. As a result of Marie’s work, patients now have more options for where they receive care, and more people can spend their final days at home. This teamwork is helping to reduce strain on the broader health and social care system and is bringing significant benefits to both patients and their families.”

For families, the difference can be life-changing.

Helen, a mother who cared for her son Ian at home, said Marie’s involvement made an enormous difference during an incredibly difficult time.

“There were numerous occasions when Marie’s involvement made things so much easier, in a very challenging situation. Providing this type of end of life care at home to my son was a total unknown for me… but this changed when Marie, the Advanced Nurse Practitioner was involved.”

Helen described how Marie’s ability to prescribe medication directly eased the burden on the family.

“It made such a difference to have her here that day. Her skills and qualifications meant I didn't have to arrange for someone to collect the chart from the house, bring to the doctor, wait for it to be signed and then bring back to the house before the district nurses arrived. This took a lot of pressure from me and also meant I didn't miss out on valuable time at home with my son Ian.”

Beyond the clinical support, Helen said Marie’s compassion helped bring clarity and comfort.

“The whole oncology experience was extremely traumatic, especially for my son but Marie was fantastic at explaining and on many occasions, just listening. Having her present helped so much in bringing a peace and understanding.”

For Ian, the support meant his final wish could be fulfilled.

“Having the Advanced Nurse Practitioner based in the community meant Ian was able to remain at home and his dying wish was fulfilled. I genuinely do believe, without the community team support Ian would have died many weeks, if not months, earlier than he did which gave us valuable and precious time together. My sincere thanks to the entire community team and especially community Advanced Nurse practitioner, Marie.”

The new role highlights how innovation, partnership and specialist training are helping to transform palliative care in Northern Ireland - ensuring more patients can receive compassionate, expert care in the comfort of their own homes, surrounded by those who matter most.