Connected Palliative Care

Details
Services
Out of hospital care
Patient Information
Partnerships
Team and contact details
Information for professionals

You may be offered palliative care to improve or maintain your quality of life if you have been told you might not get better or have a life-limiting illness. Those involved in your care will regularly assess your needs and try to help you with any physical, emotional, social or spiritual needs you may have. You can have palliative care for weeks, months or years.

Watch our video below to find out more about the care we provide to patients and their families:

For more information about disabled access for this service, please click here.

Connected Palliative Care is a service for patients and their relatives and carers in Sandwell and West Birmingham who have a life-limiting illness.
We work in partnership with other health professionals such as the GP and community nurses to support and coordinate care.

Who do we look after?

For people in their own homes, the patient must be registered with a GP within Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group. The patient must be in the last 12 months of life and be referred by a health professional using an Adult Specialist Palliative Care Referral Form . Once known to our service, the patient, relative or carer can contact us directly.

For people who are currently inpatients with palliative care needs regardless of CCG the service will support their care and then hand over to local services on discharge.

A member of the team will answer the call and may ask the patient for more information in order to advise them better. Healthcare professionals can also use this number to refer to the service.

With the permission of the patient, the team will access their health record and if necessary, transfer the call to a nurse who will provide extra advice and support or put them in touch with other services if needed. This may include involving a district nurse, a specialist nurse, a doctor or another health professional.

What does the Connected Palliative Care offer?

We aim to equip healthcare professionals with the knowledge and skills to communicate effectively with patients and families about death, and bereavement and recognise that emotional, spiritual, family and financial worries might be just as important as physical problems.

We offer the following services:

Trained nurses able to advise and support patients, relatives, carers and professionals.
24/7 Urgent Response Team of registered nurses and healthcare assistants to carry out home visits to patients at times of crisis working closely with other services
Signposting to services that provide care, advice and equipment.
Providing social support for patients, their relatives and carers, including sitting services, domestic support and welfare rights advice.
Coordination of referral for specialist palliative care assessment if the patient’s symptoms or needs are complex and difficult to manage.
Education and advice to healthcare professionals to maximise skills on all aspects of palliative and end of life care.
Co-ordination of services to ensure care packages are in place when needed.
After death support to the bereaved by signposting to bereavement support services.

For inpatients: The Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Service

This is made up of a team of specialist nurses, occupational therapists and consultants who offer palliative care for inpatients in City Hospital and Sandwell General Hospital.

The team works with patients their family, their ward doctors and nurses to improve physical comfort (such as treatment for pain or sickness) and helps them make decisions about a person’s future treatment. They also work with the help of social workers, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.

They can discuss the patient’s options for future treatment and care and refer people to other professionals who will continue their care in hospital, home, care home or a hospice.

Patients can be referred to the hospital palliative care service by any healthcare professional on the ward where they are having treatment. The team can be contacted via the Connected Palliative Care Hub on 0121 507 3611, between 8am -8pm. Out of these hours, for urgent telephone advice, they can be contacted via SWB switchboard on 0121 507 1831, by healthcare professionals.

For more information on services for people in their own homes see the “Out of hospital care” section.

District nurses and community matrons

Community nurses, district nursing teams and community matrons can provide general nursing care for patients in their own home and support their carers. They will be able to address any symptoms and seek further support from palliative services if they need further support with symptom control to help the patient live until they die in your preferred place of care with dignity.

Urgent response nursing team

Available via Connected Palliative Care, for people with a Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG GP, this is a team of registered nurses and Healthcare professional who carry out home visits 24/7 to palliative patients at times of crisis working closely with other services.

GPs

The patient’s GP will play an important role in coordinating their care at home. Most notably they will:

Plan the patient’s care with the district nurse and any specialists if needed
Regularly assess and treat their symptoms in partnership with the patient
Talk to the patient about and record their wishes for future care
Make sure they know who to contact if they have any problems
Pass on information about the patient to the out-of-hours doctors and nursing services so that if they need to contact them they will already have information about their condition.

Community Specialist Palliative Care Services

This is made up of community clinical nurse specialists, consultants in palliative medicine and allied healthcare professionals and they support people and their families. The teams work closely with other people involved with their care including GPs, district nurses and hospital consultants and nurses. They can also refer people to day services or to be admitted to one of the local hospices inpatient units if appropriate.

Community clinical nurse specialists are nurses who have had further training and experience in palliative care and can talk with people about any physical, emotional, spiritual or social issues which may be having an impact on their life. They have a good knowledge of what can help, including medication to improve symptoms such as pain, sickness or breathlessness. They have time to discuss thoughts and feelings which people may wish to share and can give information to help people make choices.

The patient’s care will be from which ever local provider their GP has chosen. Connected Palliative Care can help make sure the patient is referred to the correct one.

Day Hospice

Day hospice services are provided via local hospices. SWB has its own Heart of Sandwell Day Hospice, which is based at Rowley Regis Hospital.

We aim to improve the health and well-being for palliative patients attending the hospice by offering them a holistic needs assessment and a 12 week program of activities. We are currently open three days a week and patients attend one day a week for 12 weeks to achieve goals set by the Day Hospice Coordinator. Goals may include fatigue management, social interaction, anxiety and breathlessness reduction.

Activities include:

Discussion groups
Fatigue/anxiety/breathlessness management groups
Relaxation groups
Arts and crafts
Bowen massage with complementary therapist
Move it or Lose It exercise groups
Rehab
Pets As Therapy Dog

Referrals are received via the Palliative Care Hub on 0121 507 3611.

In April 2017, the facility was officially opened by James Morris, MP.
He said at the time: “It is really good to see additional services coming into this small intimate hospital. The patients seem in really good spirits and you can tell they feel relaxed.
He added: “One of the advantages of having it located at Rowley is the complementary services that are available. I think it’s a really good integrated package.
“Every time I come to Rowley Regis Hospital, I get a really good sense of the compassionate care that is being delivered here. It has a really good atmosphere and you can see that the staff are committed.”

How can I access Palliative Care services?

GPs, hospital specialists, community nurses district or hospital palliative care team can refer to the patient’s community palliative care team by calling the Connected Palliative Care Hub on 0121 507 3611, who will then complete a referral form. The team referred to will depend on which area the GP is based in. A member of the appropriate community team will then contact the patient to make an initial appointment where they will discuss the best way to support them.

Patient information leaflets

For more information on our Trust Bereavement Support service click here.

Palliative Care – Connected Palliative Care (ML5318)

Connected Palliative Care information and advice for patients

Connected Palliative Care information and advice for professionals

‘Off-label’ medicines
Opioid therapy
The Last Days of Life

Practical care for the dying person tool kit
Your Guide to decisions about cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

Living with a palliative condition

Palliative care is for all people who have a life-limiting illness and aims to improve people’s quality of life by addressing people’s physical, psychological and social concerns. Further information is available at:

Cancer
www.macmillan.org.uk

Motor neurone disease
www.mndassociation.org

Heart disease
www.bhf.org.uk

Chronic lung disease
www.lunguk.org

Our Partners

We work with key partners to ensure the people we look after receive the care they need. Please click the icons below to find out more about these organisations.

Other local services

Citizens Advice Bureau
Provides free and confidential legal and financial advice.
Telephone: 08444 111 444
Web: www.citizensadvicebureau.org.uk

Edwards Trust
Supports children and families through serious illness and bereavement.
Telephone: 0121 454 1705
Web: www.edwardstrust.org.uk

Hospices

Mary Stevens House
221 Hagley Road
Oldswinford
Stourbridge
DY8 2JR
Tel: 01384 443 010
Web: www.marystevenshouse.co.uk

Compton Hospice
74 Compton Road West
Wolverhampton
WV3 9DH
Tel: 0845 225 5497
Web: www.compton-hospice.org.uk

St Giles Hospice Walsall
Goscote Lane,
Walsall
WS3 1SJ
Tel: 01922 602520
Web: http://www.stgileshospice.com/Walsall.html

Some of the Connected Palliative Care team are pictured above.

Our diverse team includes:

Palliative Medicine Consultants
Clinical nurse specialists
Urgent response Palliative Care Nurses
Occupational Therapists
Care Co-ordinators
Occupational therapists
Administrators

Key service members

Palliative & End of Life Care Team Leader
Sue Law

Consultants
Dr Anna Lock
Dr Mariam George
Dr Rebecca Dawber

Contact Details:

From 8am-8pm on 0121 507 3611 we are open seven days a week, for referrals, advice and requests for visits please call us.

Between the hours of 8pm–8am, we have a Specialist Palliative Care Nurse on-call who will give clinical advice to healthcare professionals. Please contact the hospital’s main switchboard on 0121 553 1831, who will contact the nurse on call for you.

If the patient is in their own home needing palliative input from the Urgent Response Palliative Care team call 07896793814 to speak to a nurse directly between 8pm and 8am. This number is not available at any other times.

You can also email us at: swb-tr.SWBH-GM-Connected-PC-Hub@nhs.net (checked every day).

Postal address:

Palliative Care Suite, Connected Palliative Care Hub, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, Sandwell General Hospital, Lyndon, West Bromwich, West Midlands, B71 4HJ

We are also on social media. Follow us at:

Twitter @SwbConnectedPC

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConnectedPalliativeCare

Professionals can find out more information by clicking the boxes below: