Urgent referrals

To make an urgent referral to one of our clinical services, please follow the guidelines below. You can download a referral form by following this link. Please also see guidelines for completing a referral form at the end of this page.

In-patient Unit

If admission is required urgently, please telephone the Gateway Team on 01905 763963 to provide immediate advice.

Admission at weekends and public holidays may be possible and can be arranged through the on-call CNS and first on-call doctor at the hospice. 

Priority will be given to patients in the community to prevent inappropriate admission to an acute hospital bed, but in the event of capacity to do so, transfer from hospital may be possible.

Nurse Specialist, Living Well and Family Support Teams

If contact with the patient is required within 48 hours, please complete the referral form and email it to the address on the form, marked as urgent. The referrer should also telephone the Gateway Team on 01905 763963 to provide immediate advice. Failure to do so may result in delays in contacting the patient.

When completing a referral form, please:

  • Clearly state the purpose of the referral
  • Email the completed document to the address on the form
  • The form should be accompanied by supporting documents, such as hospital letters, reports or GP summary, and a list of the patient’s current medication. Failure to do so will result in a delay in processing the referral.

For patients with decision making capacity, referral must be discussed with them and made with their consent.

On receipt of the referral form, details will be entered on SystmOne, the palliative care database in use across Worcestershire. In all cases the GP, who is the key person in charge of that patient’s care, will be informed.

We will then phone the patient to discuss any concerns and, if needed, we can arrange a convenient time to visit to plan the support we can offer. At all stages, we work in partnership with the community teams and acute hospital services involved in the patient’s care.