Palliative Care Team
End of Life Care at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals
To ensure excellence in End of Life Care
“Care that is compassionate, equitable, reliable, improves the care experience and makes best use of resources.”
Introduction
In End of Life Care, there is only one chance to get it right. The Trust recognises the importance of providing high quality care to all patients at the end of their lives. Over the past seven years, the End of Life Care team within Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been working hard to improve the care that is provided during this often very difficult period for patients and those important to them.
The team is made up of Nurses, Doctors, Allied Health Professionals, members of the Hospital Discharge team and Chaplaincy team, supported closely by project support and hospital management, with the aim to ensure excellence in End of Life Care.
Meet the team
The team is led by Dr Harriet Preston, Head of Department for Palliative Medicine and Clinical Lead for End of Life Care, and Jackie Brunton, Lead Nurse for Cancer and End of Life and Bereavement Care. Our Non-Executive Director is Dr Sheena Bedi. We are supported by Rev. Ian Baxter, Chaplaincy Lead. The teams include:
- Trinity Hospice Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Nurses
- Community End of Life Team
- Swan End of Life Bereavement Care team
- Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care team
- Mortuary and bereavement services
- Medical Examiners Service
The team works alongside all departments.
Awards and recognition
The End of Life Care team have been delighted to have received several awards over the past seven years. The team was the overall winner in the Cancer Care category of the Care Integration Awards 2012. In 2014 The Fylde Coast Carers Trust named the team ‘Hospital Team of the Year’ and in 2015 they were awarded ‘End of Life Care Team of the Year’ at the Patient Safety Awards. The team were named ‘Palliative Care Team of the Year’ at the 2016 BMJ Awards.
The team was named the overall winner in the Palliative Care category in the BMJ Awards 2016 for the Transforming End of Life Care Project.
CQC inspection, 2019
The Trust end of life serviced were rated GOOD after the 2019 inspection. We continue to strive to provide the highest quality care we can fir all patients and their loved ones. We continue to make improvements to the services and support available. We have recently invested in our specialist palliative care team and this is now a 7 day service and also introduced our Swan End of Life & Bereavement Care service which includes specialist bereavement support nurses. We care about the services we provide we have one chance to get it right – our commitment to our community is that we will continue to strive for this every time for every person.
Palliative Care
The aim of Palliative Care is to improve the quality of life for patients and their loved ones. The hospital Palliative Care Service provides specialist symptom management, psychological and social support for patients referred to the team who have a life limiting illness or progressive illness. The team consists of two Palliative Medicine Consultants, Speciality Doctor, Pharmacist, Trinity Advanced Care Practitioner, Clinical Nurse Specialists , Associate Nurse Specialists and health care assistants. We work alongside other teams within the hospital to enhance the care that is provided to patients and their families or carers. We currently work from 8 am to 5pm, 7 days a week including bank holidays.
As part of an Integrated Palliative Care Service, we can access other services to support patients when they are discharged from hospital, depending on their wishes and their needs. This may include referral to Trinity Hospice for those who would benefit from assessment in the specialist unit or referral to the Trinity Community Nurse Specialists who support patients who wish to remain at home or in their care home. Other services include the Trinity Hospice at Home service which aims to provide care and support for patients within their own home, the Trinity Day Therapy Unit and counselling and bereavement support from the Linden Centre.
Useful numbers:
- Hospital Palliative Care team answer phone: 01253 953670
- Trinity CNS team secretaries: (Mon-Fri 0830 – 1230 and 1330 -1700)
01253 359379 - Trinity Hospice main switchboard: 01253 358881
- Linden Centre: 01253 595552