21 June 2026
Meet Saski
Saski is one of our Hospice Nurses in the Woodlands Team at The Ark. Our Woodlands Wing, which is home to six fully equipped children’s bedrooms, is staffed by our nurse-led clinical team, who provide specialist palliative care and symptom management, as well as enabling access to our other services and emotional support.
In January, we launched our new Clinical Services Model, creating two specialist teams: the Community Team and the Woodlands Team. This new structure enables the Woodlands Team to provide dedicated 24/7 care at The Ark.
Joining the team at Noah's Ark
Saski has been at Noah’s Ark for just over two years and previously worked as a newly qualified nurse on the Paediatric Surgical and Medicine Ward at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
Saski prefers working in a children’s hospice as she can provide more holistic care than in a hospital setting. She says: “Working on a ward is very task orientated, everything has to be done at certain times, whereas at Noah’s Ark, I actually feel like I’m making a difference.”
Working on Woodlands
Saski says of her role as a Hospice Nurse at Noah’s Ark: “I work with babies, children and young people who are on Woodlands Wing for short breaks, end of life care and care after death. I’m also usually the shift lead, which means that I’m also responsible for the well-being of the staff.”
Saski also enjoys the one-to-one focus she can give to children at The Ark. She says: “I really enjoy working on Woodlands and taking the children to the Hydrotherapy Pool and out on trips, it’s so lovely. When we do care for children at the end-of-life, I can give 100% of my attention and give them really good care. That’s what I came into children’s palliative care to do, give more of my time to the children.”
The Woodlands Team has recently welcomed several new staff members who are currently undergoing comprehensive training to ensure they can consistently deliver high-quality, round-the-clock care. Saski says: “We’ve all received additional training to support children with more complex needs during short breaks. It’s also really positive that families can now benefit from longer midweek stays at The Ark, and that we’re able to take children to and from school.”
Benefits of the New Model
Saski and the team on Woodlands are starting to see the real benefits of the new Clinical Services Model. Saski says: “The Community Team are out there spreading the word, building trust with the different professionals involved in a child’s care while also trying to break the stigma around palliative care. The Woodlands Team take over that work when the families walk through the door where we can build parent’s trust by showing them that we can care for their child beautifully to empower them to leave their child with us.”
Offering Families a Choice
Saski believes families should always have a choice where they receive care. She says: “It’s so important they have that choice as sometimes a family aren’t ready or don’t want to come to a hospice. If they do want to have all their care at home, we make sure it's the same level of care that they would receive at The Ark.”
Find out more about our Clinical Services here.
