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565 Foxhall Road
Ipswich,
Suffolk
IP3 8LX
T: (01473) 727776
F: (01473) 274717
Email us here

• The patient will have advanced disease, with specialist palliative care needs, for which curative treatment is no longer an option.
• The patient will be 18 years and older. (A special request to the Healthcare Commission can be made to care for patients younger than 18; this process may take several days at the very least).
• Anyone can refer, but in practice this is normally a doctor or a nurse. If the patient or a family member, social services or others make a referral, the patient's doctor and/or district or Macmillan nurse will normally be contacted for further information and to confirm that referral is appropriate.
• Decisions will be based on the needs of the patient and his or her family rather than the diagnosis.
• We recognise that a patient's needs may be greater at certain times of their illness including at diagnosis, relapse or recurrence of disease and the terminal phase.
• The highest priority for Hospice care, particularly for in-patient care, will be given to:
  - Patients with difficult pain and symptom control where frequent review and adjustment of medications are needed
  - Patients and families with particular difficulty in coping with their illness and its consequences
  - Patients whose condition is rapidly changing and who cannot be supported in the community

The Hospice will assess referred patients individually. All patients referred for out-patient or day care will have an initial multidisciplinary assessment. Ordinarily, referrals to the in-patient unit will be assessed on the basis of verbal and written information supplied by the referring and other health and social care professionals.

Patients whose needs are assessed as mainly social and without a specialist palliative care need will not be accepted by the Hospice, particularly where alternative care is seen as the responsibility of statutory services.

The Hospice does not have any designated long term care beds.

Relatives or carers of patients with specialist palliative care needs who are having psychosocial difficulties can be referred for family support or complementary therapy.

When not to refer:

• when patients are not in agreement with the referral
• when symptoms are well controlled
• when physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs are being met by present support networks
• when a discharge is well supported by others and meets current needs.