Referral criteria
Patients eligible for specialist palliative care are those with advancing progressive disease no longer amenable to curative treatment and conferring a limited lifespan. Diagnoses include progressive cancer, advanced neurological conditions and advanced or end-stage organ failures.
Patients will be assessed on an individual basis. If a patient is not considered eligible for specialist palliative care then this will be immediately communicated to the referrer. Some patients who have received Hospice services may no longer require specialist palliative care and will be referred back to primary care for support. A re-referral at a later stage will be welcome, when appropriate.
How to access our services
You can download our referral form. Alternatively, please contact the Hospice on 01444 471598 and we can arrange for a blank referral form to be faxed to you.
In order that we can quickly offer newly referred patients access to our services, please provide as much relevant information as possible, including copies of recent correspondence and reports. If clinical information is lacking, we may need to contact referrers to obtain this before we can assess the patient.
Once a referral is received, the appropriate team member will contact the patient to arrange assessment and follow up. Full details of this assessment and plan will be communicated in writing to the referrer and other involved clinicians. Generally patients referred to the service can access all parts of it.
