Source: Adult Care Services | Hertfordshire County Council
Important note for circulation to adult social care and other colleagues within Hertfordshire County Council.
A new telephone advice service has started this week for out-of-hours calls requesting palliative care and end of life care advice from health and care professionals, West Hertfordshire patients (aged 18 years and over) and their families. The advice line complements the existing West Herts Palliative Care Referral Centre, meaning professionals and patients now have access to 24/7 specialist palliative care advice.
The Advice Line is a partnership between Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, Peace Hospice Care, The Hospice of St Francis, Rennie Grove Hospice Care. It is hosted by Peace Hospice Care and The Hospice of St Francis who explains more about the service in the letter below.
Dear Colleagues,
From 6 January 2020, all out of hours calls requesting palliative care and end of life care advice from health and care professionals, patients (aged 18 years and over) registered with a West Hertfordshire GP and their families, will be managed by the West Herts Advice Line (hosted by Peace Hospice Care and The Hospice of St Francis).
This is via a single telephone number: 01923 335 356.
The service will operate:
- 5pm – 9am (Monday to Friday)
- all-day Saturday and Sunday, and bank holidays
- seven days a week
- 365 days a year.
Calls will be handled by an experienced nursing team who will liaise with the on-call doctors and consultants as required. The advice line sits within an Inpatient Unit.
The Advice Line will operate alongside the West Herts Palliative Care Referral Centre (PCRC) which will continue to provide support during office hours – meaning that access to specialist palliative care is now available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls will be automatically routed to the correct service.
Please let your colleagues know about this change and do contact us should you have any questions.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Sarah Klinger MBChB MSc FRCP
Medical Director & Consultant Palliative Medicine, Peace Hospice Care
skinger@peacehospicecare.org.uk
Fay Richardson
Director of Care, The Hospice of St Francis
fay.richardson@stfrancis.org.uk