Hospice Community Nurse Specialists

If you or a loved one are referred to the Hospice, the first point of contact will be with one of our Hospice Community Nurse Specialists.  They will help you to access all the services and support available to help you maintain quality of life and to be cared for in the place of your choice.

We are very lucky to have eight Hospice Community Nurse Specialists. They are available Monday to Friday and work closely with GPs, the Hospital and other community nurses to ensure patients with life-limiting illnesses receive the best possible care and the most effective pain and symptom relief. Through regular home visits they provide advice and support to meet the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual needs of patients, their carers and families, helping them ‘live’ through their illness and giving them a real choice about their care and supporting their family.

Specifically, Hospice Community Nurse Specialists are responsible for:

• Receiving referrals and undertaking initial and ongoing assessments of the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social and practical needs of the patients and their families
• Building an ongoing caring relationship with patients and families to enable them to talk about their difficulties, worries, fears, hopes and joys
• Working with GPs and other members of the Primary Health Care Teams to provide specialist expertise on the care of patients with palliative needs, including advice on pain and symptom management
• Reviewing the effectiveness of treatment and care plans and making changes if these are not having the desired effect, so that patients can live an independent and rewarding life for as long as possible
• Working with a range of health and social care agencies to ensure a joined-up approach to patient care and that support systems are in place to help families cope with their loved-one’s condition
• Arranging for patients to use Weston Hospicecare’s Out-Patient Services, such as complementary therapy and physiotherapy and access to Hospice consultants if required.
• Offering patients the opportunity to talk about any advance wishes and future care options, if they wish to.