Palliative Care
About Palliative Care
Palliative and End of Life Care are integral aspects of the care delivered to those living with, and dying from, any advanced, progressive or incurable condition. Palliative care is not just about care in the last months, days and hours of a person’s life, but ensuring quality of life for both patients and families at every stage of the disease, from diagnosis onwards. Palliative care focuses on the person, not the disease, and applies a holistic approach to meeting the physical, practical, functional, social, emotional and spiritual needs of patients and carers.
Palliative Care in Lanarkshire
In Lanarkshire, we aim to meet palliative care needs and provide services in the setting of patient/carer choice, wherever possible. Most palliative care is delivered by teams including community nurses, general practitioners, care home staff and hospital teams, with specialist palliative care available for people with more complex needs. For many people this will be in their own homes, or their care home of residence.
Admission to an hospice can be considered and discussed in situations where 24 hour specialist care is required or when complex symptoms cannot be managed in hospital or at home. Discharge can often be planned and undertaken as quickly as possible.
Contact details are provided below for the various specialist palliative care services provided, both for people with palliative care needs (and their family/friends) and those providing palliative care.
People with Palliative Care Needs
The following services are available to people with palliative and end of life care needs:
- NHS Lanarkshire Specialist Palliative Care Team provide specialist palliative care for people in the community (in their own homes and care homes) and in hospital.
- Blantyre Health Centre, Victoria St, Blantyre, G72 0BS.
- Tel: 01698 755140
- St Andrew’s Hospice provides specialist in-patient and out-patient palliative care services.
- Henderson Street, Airdrie ML6 6DJ
- Tel: 01236 766951
- Visit website: About The Hospice – St Andrews Hospice
- Kilbryde Hospice provides specialist in-patient and out-patient palliative care services.
- (McGuinness Way, East Kilbride G75 8GJ,
- 01355 202020)
- Visit website: https://kilbrydehospice.org.uk
- Strathcarron Hospice provides specialist palliative care services for Lanarkshire residents in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.
- Denny, Stirlingshire FK6 5HJ
- Tel: 01324 826222
- Visit website: https://www.strathcarronhospice.net
- The Haven has three centres providing information and support for families affected by a range of life limiting illnesses in:
- Blantyre (01698 727884)
- Wishaw (01698 366948)
- Forth (01555 811846)
- Visit website: https://www.thehavencentre.com
- Maggie’s Lanarkshire in Airdrie provides practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends.
- Tel: 01236 771199
- Visit website: https://www.maggiescentres.org/our-centres/maggies-lanarkshire
- Lanarkshire Carers Centre works with and for carers to develop and deliver services that make a positive difference to their lives. It is based in:
- Hamilton – Tel:01698 428090
- Airdrie – Tel: 01236 755550
Visit website: https://lanarkshirecarerscentre.org.uk/about
- Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust in Wishaw provides volunteer drivers to take people with cancer for treatment if they have difficulty attending.
- Tel: 01698 355137
- Improving the Cancer Journey provides community based support for people affected by cancer, helping access the right care, services and information at the right time.
Information for People Providing Palliative Care
Health care professionals can make referrals to the following services:
For urgent palliative care advice Monday-Friday 9am-5pm please call 01698 755 141 and in the out of hours period please call St Andrew’s Hospice on 01236 766 951.
The following information/links may be useful to people providing palliative and end of life care:
NHS Lanarkshire Specialist Palliative Care Team
All requests for specialist palliative care review in the community or acute setting and all hospice admission discussions can be made by a health professional via the single point of access Monday–Friday 9–5pm tel: 01698 755141.
We also welcome and encourage calls for professional advice and discussion of clinical cases.
- For general enquiries (but not clinical referrals) email: palliativecare.lanarkshire@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk
St Andrew’s Hospice
- Out-patient referrals:
01236 766951 - In-patient referrals:
01698 755141
Kilbryde Hospice
- Out-patient referrals – Tel: 01355 202020
- In-patient referrals – Tel: 01698 755141
Strathcarron Hospice
All community and inpatient referrals for specialist palliative care and hospice services for Lanarkshire residents in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth can be made via:
- Tel: 01324 826222
- Referral website: https://www.strathcarronhospice.net/how-to-refer
Marie Curie Referral Centre (usually via Community Nurses)
- Tel: 0141 473 1785
- Email: mariecurie.screferrals@nhs.scot
Useful Websites
- The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines reflect a consensus of opinion about good practice in the management of adult patients with life limiting illness: Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines | Right Decisions
- The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care brings people together to find ways of improving people’s experiences of declining health, death, dying and bereavement: https://www.palliativecarescotland.org.uk
