Clinical Services
Palliative care at our hospices is for adults with advanced, progressive life limiting illness. We also help support the carers, families and friends of those using our services.
Often palliative care can be provided by your GP, hospital team or district nurse. Sometimes problems are more complex and some help from the team at the hospice is needed, working alongside your usual doctors and nurses.
Palliative care advice is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via the nurses and the on call senior doctors by contacting the 24 hour palliative care advice lines.
Forest Holme Tel: 0300 019 8115. Macmillan Unit Tel: 0300 019 5470
The Palliative Care team are here to help with:
- Management of symptoms that are difficult to control
- Fears and anxiety about your illness and the future
- Encouraging and enabling you to maintain your independence
- Advice on social and financial matters
- Spiritual issues
- Liaising with other staff (GP, district nurse, consultants and so on)
- Applying for relevant benefits and grants
- Advice about other services that may be available to you
- Educating and training other health care professionals in palliative care
Who leads the team?
Forest Holme
The team at Forest Holme is led by three palliative medicine consultants and matron who work in the hospice, hospital and community.
|
Macmillan Unit
The Macmillan Unit Team is led by three palliative medicine consultants and a lead nurse who work at the Macmillan Unit, at The Royal Bournemouth Hospital and in the community. They are:
|
Will I have a keyworker?
You will have a specialist palliative care keyworker who is part of the team based at the hospice. Your keyworker will be happy to talk to you about managing your pain and any other symptoms you have. As part of getting to know and help you, your keyworker may talk to you about your thoughts and feelings about your healthcare treatment and your priorities for the future. This will help us to help you. With your permission, we would also like to involve your family in decisions about your care.
What are Multidisciplinary Team meetings?
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings take place weekly and are when all the professionals who are involved in providing your specialist palliative care come together to make sure that every patient is receiving the best care possible. All patients who are under the care of the hospice are discussed at this meeting from time to time. Recommendations or decisions made at the meeting will be discussed with you by your keyworker.
The MDT could include:
- Palliative medicine consultants and other doctors
- Specialist palliative care nurses
- Health care assistants
- Occupational therapists
- Physiotherapists
- Lymphoedema specialist nurses
- Chaplains
- Members of the family support team
- Counsellors
- Complementary therapists
- Volunteers
The Lymphoedema team provides advice and management of secondary lymphoedema, which is caused by cancer or its treatment. They are based upstairs at Forest Holme and available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Referrals are usually via the GP, consultant, community or hospital nurse.
The Counselling team is based upstairs at Forest Holme. Follow the link for further information about the service. https://www.uhd.nhs.uk/services/cancer-services/counselling-services
