Palliative Care is an approach that strives to improve the quality of life of patients and their families who face life-threatening illness, by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psychosocial support from diagnosis to the end of life into bereavement.
Palliative Care is not about helping someone to die, but instead about helping someone to live as comfortably as possible with their illness. It is about seeing them as a living person, not a dying patient. It is about supporting those closest to them and adding life to days, whether or not days can be added to lives.
The palliative care team sees patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment at any stage of their illness. This includes illnesses other than cancer. Symptom management, advice and support can be offered to anyone who is dying, and to their families.
The Palliative Care Team gives specialist advice and information to people facing any serious illness, not just cancer. We recognise that emotional, spiritual, family and financial worries might be just as important to you as physical problems.
We work closely with the hospital doctors and nurses to support you, and those people important to you. We will usually see you on the hospital ward or in our Palliative Medicine Outpatients Clinic.
We offer a range of services and aim to:
- Give advice about managing pain and other physical symptoms
- Support you while you are facing serious illness
- Offer practical suggestions to help you do the things that are important to you
- Offer support to those close to you
- Introduce you to other services that might be helpful to you, such as hospices, support groups, palliative care community teams and welfare benefits advice
Palliative care outpatient clinics are held weekly at Warrington Hospital and monthly at Halton Hospital
We include a consultant in palliative medicine, a matron for palliative care and specialist palliative care nurses. At least one member of the team is available seven days a week from 8.30am to 16.30pm.
We work closely with the community teams in Halton and Warrington, as well as other local hospitals and hospices, to co-ordinate care for patients.
Consultant in Palliative Medicine – Vacant post
Matron for Palliative Care - Gwen Waller
Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialists - Helen Barrett, Claire Vere-Hoose, Howard Evans, Julia Lowe, Joanne Meredith
Clinical Educator for Palliative Care - Vicki Bellingham
Palliative Care Team Secretary - Samantha Duncan
You can contact the team via telephone on 01925 662 915 via fax on 01925 662 347 or by calling the main hospital switchboard on 01925 635 911 and asking them to bleep the Hospital Palliative Care Team.
Team Email: whh.
You can view our Senior Doctor profiles for Palliative Medicine here.
The Delamere (Macmillan) Centre, Halton Hospital, Runcorn - 01928 753 502
The Delamere cancer support and information centre offers information, support, counselling and complementary therapies to patients and their carers.
Macmillan Cancer Support - 0808 808 0000 www.macmillan.org.uk
If you have any questions about cancer, need support or just someone to talk to, call free, Monday to Friday 9am - 8pm (interpretation service available).
Referral can be made by healthcare professionals via phone, fax, direct contact with the team, or internally via ICE and members of the public can be made via phone.
It is helpful if the referrer discusses with the patient and/or family that the team have been approached.
Telephone advice can be sought by contacting any team member.
Bereavement Advice: Understanding your grief and feelings