The support offered by our team of Community Nurse Specialists is the first, and often the only, part of our service received by the majority of patients.
These Specialist Nurses work in two geographical teams and are allocated to named GP practices. They are based in offices in the north and south of the city. Each nurse has considerable experience, with additional specialist training and qualifications in palliative care.
The nurse specialist will visit you at home with your carer and will spend time with you reviewing your situation.
The Hospice Community Nurse Specialists work closely with the Primary Health Care Team to provide on-going support for patients and their carers.
Their responsibilities include:
- Symptom Management
- Assistance with family issues (as required)
- Patient and carer education
- Psychological support
- Pre bereavement care and limited bereavement care (the team will always refer carers for bereavement care to a separate service within the organisation)
- Close working partnership and liaison with the Primary Care Team (GP and DN)
Others members of the hospice team, such as doctors, social workers and chaplain work with these specialist nurses to help them and the primary health care teams to achieve as much as possible for all patients.
The Nurse Specialists are available five days a week from 8.30-5.00. At all other times specialist advice and support is still available to any health care professionals dealing with patients with incurable illness by telephoning the inpatient unit. These calls can be dealt with by nursing staff or referred on to the senior hospice doctor on-call.
What can you expect from us?
- Support for you, your partner, family and friends by phone or visits to your home
- Specialist advice about any symptoms you may experience
- Access to specialist medical support and all hospice services (For example, Day Hospice, In patient care, support for children)
- Specialist advice for anyone involved in your care
- Help and advice with financial or social problems
- Liaison with other agencies involved in your care and other services that may be able to help
We work closely with your GP and District Nurse to help provide the best care possible.
