Community Hospice Nurse Specialists

*CORONAVIRUS UPDATE*

It is vital for safety reasons that when our nurses do visit a patient that only one other person is in the same room as the patient and social distancing regulations are followed at all times.

Anyone else living in the household should stay in a separate room for the duration of the visit.

When we visit, we may be wearing PPE, which includes a mask covering our nose and mouth alongside a plastic apron and gloves. We may sometimes need to wear a face visor.

At the end of our visit, we will place the disposable PPE in a plastic rubbish bag, tied securely and left with your household to store it separately from other waste for 72 hours before disposal in your external non-recyclable household black bag waste.

Please note - contrary to the below we are NOT currently running any clinics.

 

Our team has specialist knowledge and skills in palliative care and supports patients with advanced illness as well as those people important to them. We advise on issues relating to patients’ illnesses such as symptom control, planning for their future care needs and offer emotional support.

The team provides clinics at the Woodview Centre, which is situated in the grounds of the hospice. Home visits are provided for patients who are unable to leave their home. We can also provide advice and support by telephone.

We also offer some appointments in satellite clinics within Wigan Borough and assess patients in the joint medical clinic. We do not offer ‘hands on’ nursing care. This is provided by the district nurses, social services or the Hospice in your Home service.

 

The HNS team cares for over 900 patients every year and supports those people closest to our patients.

 

Our role

We work as part of a wider team of professionals at the hospice alongside GPs, District Nurses and hospital specialists.

Key aspects of our role include:

  • Providing specialist assessment of symptoms, such as pain, sickness and breathlessness and advising patients, GPs and District Nurses on management options. Some of our team members are able to prescribe medication.
  • Listening to the worries and concerns of patients and that have arisen due to their advanced illness and providing emotional and psychological support. We do the same for those people close to our patients.
  • Providing patients with information relating to their illness and additional support services available for them.
  • Liaising closely with other health professionals involved in our patients’ care and referring to other services available within the hospice.

 

Sharing information

In order to ensure that all of our patients receive the best possible standards of care, our team meets every week with other professionals at the hospice to discuss the patients in our care, including a palliative medicine consultant. If you do not wish your care to be discussed in this meeting, please inform your hospice nurse specialist.

 

Referrals

Referrals are accepted from patients’ GPs, District Nurses or other senior healthcare professionals.

We do not accept referrals directly from patients. For more information see our Referrals section.

 

Contact Us

Team members can be contacted at Wigan and Leigh Hospice on 01942 525566. We work between the hours of 8.30 am and 4.30 pm, seven days a week and can be contacted from 8.30 am to 10 am.

When we are unable to take phone calls, our clinical secretaries will take a message, which will be collected by the team at the earliest opportunity. We will try to respond to calls on the same day, but this is not always possible and therefore if your problem is urgent you should contact your GP or District Nurse.

If you need advice outside of hours please call our telephone advice line. This is operated by the hospice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Calls will be answered by a trained clinician who will assist with issues such as pain and symptom control or hospice services. Please telephone 01942 525566.

Your District Nursing Team and Out of Hours Medical Service are also available 24 hours a day for help and advice. Please note that the hospice is not able to respond to situations requiring urgent assessment.

 

Discharge from the service

Patients are discharged from the service when:

  • They no longer have problems that require support from the hospice nurse specialist team.
  • They are attending another hospice service.
  • The patient moves out of the Wigan Borough.

If, following a patient’s discharge, our services are required again, the patient can either contact us directly (if it is within 3 months of discharge) or discuss a re-referral with their GP, District Nurse or Hospital Team.