Our Community Team is made up of a team of Clinical Nurse Specialists. Our Clinical Nurse Specialists are Registered Nurses who have developed expertise and qualifications in palliative care. They are therefore able to give advice and support to patients and families at home when they are facing a diagnosis of advanced life limiting illness of any diagnosis. Such news usually produces shock and anxiety for the patient and family. These nurses are trained to support and guide everyone through this unsettling time.
The nurses will use their expertise to attend to physical, social, emotional and spiritual issues in order to ensure quality of life and restore hope. After an initial first assessment visit, they will visit patients according to individual need. Some wish to see them regularly; others prefer to ring them when a need arises.
The Katharine House Hospice Clinical Nurse Specialists work closely with GPs, District Nurses and other healthcare professionals. There is a named nurse for each GP surgery with which we work. The nurses act as a useful resource for patients, families and health & social work colleagues.
The Clinical Nurse Specialists are supported by the medical team at the hospice, who are able to give advice and see patients as outpatients, or in their own homes if required.
Referrals to the service must be made with the knowledge and consent of the patient.
Patients, family, healthcare professionals and social care professionals may refer, but the GP will always be contacted before a referral is accepted.
Normal Service Hours:
Monday to Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm.
Contact can be made via Katharine House Hospice on 01295 811866
Outside these hours the hospice team can give advice.
(Clinical Nurse Specialists are sometimes referred to as Macmillan Nurses. However, Katharine House Hospice, not Macmillan, employs and therefore pays for the nurses in our service).
Home Nursing Service
The Home Nursing Service is a small team of Registered Nurses who can provide overnight care in a patient’s home, for patients with advanced illness. Care may be provided to prevent admission to hospital to enable a patient to die at home, if that is their preference, and to provide respite for a carer.
The Home Nurses bring the palliative care, skills and expertise, ethos and practical care associated with the Hospice into the patient’s home.
Referrals to the Home Nurse Service are mainly through the Katharine House Hospice Community Clinical Nurse Specialists, but may be made by the patient’s District Nurse.
Contact can be made via Katharine House Hospice on 01295 811866.