The word palliative, whilst common in medical circles, is not one that is used widely. As a hospice is all about palliative care, we spoke to our clinical lead for Outreach services, Tracy Griffin, to find out exactly what this means.

“A palliative illness is one that is non-curative, so we support and treat patients’ symptoms to enable them to live as well as they can be with their diagnosis,” Tracy explained. “Hospices were initially developed for cancer patients, but now they care for patients with a wide-ranging disease profile, such as MND or end stage COPD. With the advances in medical science, people with a palliative diagnosis can now live for many years, so here we focus on those within the last 18 months of their life.

Bringing together services across Warrington

“By its definition, a hospice delivers a wide range of services to care for those with a palliative diagnosis,” Tracy continued. “But there are now many more services that are available to help within our community which is why the Warrington Integrated Palliative care hub was developed.

“Initially Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group, who are responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services, were successful with an application for a Macmillan grant to look at the best way of providing palliative care across Warrington.

“After a thorough analysis and review, it was recommended to commission the Warrington Integrated Palliative care hub, to bring together already established services from St. Rocco’s, Bridgewater, Specialist Palliative Care Community Nurses, GPs, district nurses, the hospital and voluntary groups.”

Single point of contact for all palliative care across Warrington

The Hub is based here at St. Rocco’s and is now the first point of contact for anyone within Warrington who needs support and advice on palliative care. Tracy continued, “We are a single point of contact to enable one telephone number for patients, carers and healthcare professionals to access palliative care advice and support, if needed, we can signpost callers to the best services for their needs.

“The Hub maintains an up-to-date list of all the services across Warrington, even if the caller does not need the hospice straight away, they can still benefit from the hub.”

Shared patient record helps to speed things up

Tracy concluded, “The Hub has certainly made it easier for Warrington residents to access all the palliative care services now on offer. We also maintain a shared patient record, so once consent has been received, the patient’s details can be quickly and easily passed across all the necessary agencies to ensure the best care possible is provided in a timely manner.

“Having worked in palliative care for many years, I am proud that St. Rocco’s is part of this initiative and is at the forefront of delivering the best care possible for people in Warrington.”

Read more about the Warrington Integrated Palliative Care Hub.