One of our main aims is to help patients to stay at home where possible, providing our care alongside their own doctors and nurses with the support of the Living Well Centre. When appropriate, patients may be admitted to the In-patient Unit.
We support loved ones and carers across our services, for example through carers’ groups, family support and Living Well Services.
Last year more than 1,200 patients were supported by our Community Nursing Teams.
Our Community Nursing Team
Our specialist Community Nursing Team is made up of experienced and knowledgeable Clinical Nurse Specialists and Senior Staff Nurses who aim to support you, your family and carers.
You will normally be supported by the Nurse Specialist who is linked to your GP practice. This Nurse Specialist will agree a plan of care with you and will work with your GP and District Nurse to resolve or reduce your current issues.
You may be seen at home, in your GP surgery, at a clinic or at the hospice in Worcester or you may choose to be supported by a regular telephone call rather than a visit.
During the coronavirus pandemic, we are mainly supporting people by phone or video call to protect you, your families, carers and staff. If it is essential to visit, one of us will meet you at home and will follow all infection-control guidelines to keep you and us safe.
How we help
We offer a specialist service to help you and your family manage specific issues that are causing concern. We are able to spend time listening to your concerns, identifying problems and anxieties and helping you to find ways of managing these.
We have specialist knowledge about managing physical symptoms such as pain or fatigue caused by your illness or treatment, and can work with you and your GP to reduce or control these symptoms.
We can help you make informed choices for you and your family, using our expert knowledge to provide up-to-date and understandable information in a supportive and sensitive manner.
We work closely with other health and social care professionals and will help to ensure that your health needs are met in a timely and appropriate way.
We will discuss with you options for your future care, and help you make informed choices. We can also help you document these choices.
We will refer you to other hospice specialist teams as appropriate, including services such as Hospice at Home, the In-patient Unit, Living Well services, Family Support and hospice volunteer support. Please note, some of these services are currently being offered online via telephone or video call.
We provide a service which is available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It’s likely that you will speak to other members of the Nurse Specialist team – with your consent. Also, with your consent, an electronic record of your care will be created. All team members will have access to this record and will be able to give tailored and skilled advice.
When we support you
Online or telephone appointments and essential home visits are normally pre-booked and are offered within office hours.
Frequently, we are able to resolve specific issues that are causing you concern. Once we feel your specific issue has been resolved, this will be discussed with you and your care may be given back to your GP and District Nurse team.
Please be assured, however, that you can be referred to our specialist service again if you need further support in the future.
We will explain to you how you can be re-referred and will give you written instructions which can be kept safely for future reference. For urgent issues that can’t wait, our service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Bank Holidays.
All care offered by St Richard’s Hospice is provided to you and your family free of charge. Please note that the team are not Macmillan Nurses and we do not receive any funding from Macmillan.
How to contact us
Contact the Community Nursing Team on 01905 958139 from 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday to Friday.
Out of hours
If you need telephone advice on physical symptoms such as pain, or if you need to talk to a specialist nurse about any concerns or anxieties that cannot wait until the next working day, please contact us on 01905 763963.
Overnight your call will be answered by a member of our In-patient Unit staff, they will give advice if able or will contact the on-call Nurse Specialist on your behalf and the on-call Nurse Specialist will phone you back.
During weekend and bank holiday day time hours a member of the Nurse Specialist team is available to provide urgent telephone advice or, in some circumstances, a home visit.
There are several steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of problems occurring outside normal working hours. Before the weekend, you are advised to:
- Check that you have sufficient medication or equipment for the weekend. If not, order further supplies from your GP practice.
- Organise with your District Nurse to care for dressings or catheter etc to reduce the need for urgent attention over the weekend.
Sometimes, unforeseen problems do arise outside of normal working hours and you are advised to:
- Contact your GP Out of Hours service by calling the NHS 111 service if you feel suddenly unwell
- Contact your District Nurse if you require support because of physical needs such as changing dressings or catheter care.
How can I be referred?
If you would like support from St Richard’s you can ask to be referred by your GP, consultant, District Nurse or health care professional. You or someone close to you, can also speak to our Gateway referral team for information or advice. In all cases the GP, who is the key person in charge of your care, will be informed. We will phone you to discuss any concerns and, if needed, we can arrange a convenient date and time to visit or talk online or by phone to plan the support and care we can offer.
At all stages we will work in partnership with the community teams and acute hospital services involved in your care. If you would like more information about referral please contact the Gateway Team on 01905 763963.
“My husband has cancer and wants to stay at home. The hospice has been incredible to help us achieve this with really wonderful support.”
Safety
To protect our staff at work in the community, they now carry devices that can monitor and record conversations. They can summon support services and the recordings can be used in court proceedings.
