Additional information for referrers

All new referrals will be reviewed and responded to within one working day of referral.
If you require the At Home Team, please call 07966 502551 Mon – Fri, 8am – 8pm. Weekends & Bank Holidays 8am – 5pm.

• Please ensure the referral form is completed as fully as possible to enable a prompt decision to be made.
• If an ambulance ie required the referrer will be asked to arrange this.
• A full list of the patients medication should be included with the referral.

The inpatient unit at Katharine House Hospice is a specialist palliative care unit for people over the age of 18.  Palliative care aims to help those with an incurable illness have the best quality of life as possible, along with their families and carers. We frequently support people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and motor neurone disease, as well as advanced heart, lung and kidney failure. However, people with any life-limiting illness can be referred to Katharine House Hospice for support.

Outpatient care

Our outpatient care offers a variety of appointments, treatments and activities for patients with a life limiting illness. The focus is on promoting wellbeing and rehabilitation to enable patients to live as well as they can.
Patients will have access to appointments with a variety of Professionals including Drs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, and Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialists, Counsellors, Lymphoedema, Complementary Therapies and Chaplaincy. There are a number of Wellbeing Programmes to support Patients and their Families with issues such as breathlessness, fatigue and other physical symptoms. We also provide emotional, psychological and spiritual support.

Lymphoedema care
The Lymphoedema service offers a holistic assessment of patients who present with all types of Lymphoedema, lipoedema and other types chronic oedemas. Lymphoedema offers a range of telephone, virtual and face to face appointments for consultations and treatments. These are determined by the service.

The service prioritises assessment for cancer patients who develop Lymphoedema as a result of their cancer surgery and treatments. The service provides assessment for non-cancer patients but they must demonstrate a BMI <40 to access service assessment.

Family Support Services
At Katharine House Hospice, Our Family Support Services exist to promote emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being, and also practical signposting to outside agencies if required. This service is for Katharine House patients, carers, family members and friends.

Counselling Service
We offer short term counselling support and one-off calls when your patient or their family members need us. We can also offer supportive calls on a regular basis, to help them through particularly difficult times.

Emotional and Spiritual Care
Meeting the emotional and spiritual care needs of patients and family members is as important as the physical and practical care that we offer. Some people will have specific requests relating to their religion or culture. For others, spirituality describes anything that gives value and meaning to their lives. All aspects can be covered within spiritual and emotional care.

Bereavement Services
We offer pre and post bereavement support for adults within our counselling service, delivering compassionate focussed support through group support and one to one counselling sessions.

Community Care

Palliative Care Nurse Specialists (PCNS)
Palliative Care Nurse Specialists provide evidence based specialist palliative care in the community as part of the multi-disciplinary team including District Nurses, GP’s and Occupational Therapy amongst others. This includes holistic assessments, symptom management, advanced care planning, review and co-ordination of allied health services, all with a view to providing individualised care using the most appropriate services available.
We act as a source of support and guidance for the whole family throughout the patient’s journey through to bereavement. Using a complex strategy of specialist clinical knowledge and, highly developed communication skills and specialist level direct and indirect patient care, we manage a defined caseload with the aim of supporting and empowering the patient to remain independent, comfortable and with a reduced symptom burden.

Hospice At Home
The Hospice at Home team at Katharine House provide a rapid response service, that aim to help support people in their own homes at the end of life. The team provides specialist palliative care: including personal care – washing, dressing changing bedding, comfort visits – including toileting and pressure area care, we can sign post and liaise with other health care professionals, including district nurses and the palliative care nurse specialists to get the best outcomes for the patient and their families. We provide respite day sits to allow family members to go out or have a rest and night sits. The service is provided over a 24 hour period and patients or their families will be contacted with times of calls prior to the visits.

The Hospice at Home Team also provide crisis support at times of change, this can often prevent a crisis admission to hospital or other care settings. We also support to help facilitate discharge from hospital, hospice, or other temporary care setting, there are times when patients are ready to go home from hospital but the care they need is not able to start for a few days. The Hospice at Home team will help support the patient to go home sooner and provide care until the long term care provider can commence.