What is Specialist Palliative Care?
We support patients and those important to them, with life limiting illnesses/conditions such as cancer, heart failure, chronic lung disease, neurological conditions and frailty.
Our focus is improving quality of life.
We do this by:
- Managing pain and other symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, constipation and breathlessness
- Providing emotional and psychological support
- Providing relevant information about your illness
- Providing practical advice and supporting you to plan your future care
- Supporting discharge and referring to other healthcare professionals beneficial to your care
- Seeing patients receiving end of life care and supporting them and their loved ones
Who are we?
The Specialist Palliative Care Team consists of:
- Specialist Palliative Care Nurses
- Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialist
- Consultant and Specialist Doctors in Palliative Medicine
- Team administrators
We also have nursing students and junior doctors who spend time with the team.
We assess patients in the hospital setting and can be involved at any stage of your illness.
The multi-disciplinary team
We work as part of a wide multidisciplinary team including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, bereavement nurses, local hospice teams, cancer specialist nurses, pharmacists, chaplains, discharge co-ordinators and community teams. We have meetings with local teams weekly to discuss new patients or any patients requiring additional support.
A member of the Specialist Palliative Care Team will be your named contact and will talk to you and those important to you about your care whilst you are in hospital. However, you may see other members of the team depending on need or if your named contact is unavailable.
After discharge, if you need ongoing support, you can be referred to the relevant community teams, such as your GP, District Nurses and/or the Community Specialist Palliative Care Team.
With your consent, we can create an electronic record about your preferences and wishes relating to palliative care. This ensures that any healthcare professional involved with your care has access to the most up to date information regarding your personalised care plan.
How to contact us
Fairfield General Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team
Tel: 0161 778 2679
Royal Oldham Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Team
Tel: 0161 778 5918
We are a 7-day service and available from 8.30am to 4.30pm including bank holidays. An answer phone is available for you to leave a message if we are out of the office. You can also ask any staff member on the ward to contact us on your behalf.
Your agreed plan of care is:
Your Specialist Palliative Care key contact is:
Date:
Date of Review: February 2026
Date of Next Review: February 2028
Ref No: PI_SU_706 (BRO)