The palliative care team aim to improve your quality of life by addressing any concerns relating to your illness and to offer support to your family and carers. We are a team consisting of nurses and doctors who have completed specialist training to help you deal with difficult symptoms such as pain, nausea, breathlessness and anxiety.
Day to day responsibility and leadership of the service rests with the clinical nurse specialist and palliative care and end of life nurses.
We also help with planning for the future, as well as providing social, emotional and spiritual support.
We work closely with other health and social care professionals in the hospital such as the chaplaincy team, dieticians, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. In addition we have strong links with the local community palliative care services and can refer to them if their input would be helpful.
What we offer and provide
Initial contact with you is usually made by one of our palliative care specialist nurses who will assess and discuss with you the symptoms and problems you are experiencing. The specialist nurse will then put forward recommendations to the team looking after you on the ward and involve the consultant in palliative medicine as necessary.
In preparation for your discharge from hospital, the clinical nurse specialist may discuss possible home visits with you. If you agree and accept, the clinical nurse specialist will contact the community palliative care team at a hospice local to you, who will arrange home visits so that your symptoms continue to be monitored, and ongoing support for you and your family is provided.
They may also discuss the addition of your details to the ePaCCs system. This is an electronic palliative care register that shares basic clinical information with your GP, nursing service, community palliative care team and the out of hours services such as the ambulance service. This will ensure your wishes are known to these services if you need to contact them, thus preventing re-admission to hospital if this is something you do not want to happen in the future, plus this will include details on your preferred place of care and death.
How people can access the service?
You may be referred to us by the doctor or nurse looking after you, or you or your family may also request to see us. Referrals can be made by doctors, nurses, and all registered professionals on the wards, together with community palliative care nurses, Palliative Care services out of area and the Hospice. Our contact numbers feature below for both Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil Hospital.
How to refer / referral information (if applicable):
Referrals can be made by telephone on 01823 342656 for Musgrove Park Hospital and 01935 475122 for Yeovil Hospital.