St Elizabeth Hospice’s ground-breaking 24-hour phoneline offering specialist advice direct to the general public and health workers in East Suffolk is being expanded to Waveney and Great Yarmouth.
When the hospice advice line – OneCall – was launched two years ago (2010), it was the first in East Anglia and one of the first of its kind nationwide. It now takes around 800 calls a month.
Now it is being rolled out so anyone in North Suffolk and South East Norfolk can use it for specialist palliative care advice and supportive care.
It is free and open to:
• members of the public
• including patients living life with a progressive illness such as heart failure, kidney disease, cancer,
• their relatives and carers,
• GPs, nurses and other medical professionals, health and social care workers
They can get expert advice at the end of the phone – even in the middle of the night – from registered nurses, seven days a week.
There is just one number to ring for OneCall – 0800 567 0111 – for 24 hour advice. Calls are free from a BT landline.
OneCall is the fifth St Elizabeth Hospice service for people in Waveney and Great Yarmouth and is part of the charity’s strategy to meet the local need for specialist palliative care and enable patients to access services closer to home.
St Elizabeth Hospice is already providing day services free of charge in Lowestoft, Beccles and Ditchingham near Bungay and inpatient beds in Ditchingham in conjunction with All Hallows Hospital. A further day service is due to open in Great Yarmouth shortly.
Jane Petit, St Elizabeth Hospice’s chief executive, said: “Having one phone number for anyone in East Suffolk , North Essex and South East Norfolk who wants advice or information about palliative care issues or our Hospice services will help us to reach out to the whole of the local community.
“Whether it be a patient facing a new symptom, a carer worried about giving the correct dosage of pain relief or a doctor with a query, OneCall provides advice for everyone in our catchment area.
“When in the midst of difficult times such as coping with an illness or caring for a loved one, it is important all members of the community have quick and easy access to appropriate expert advice and the correct facts.”
There are similar phonelines aimed at health and social care workers, but OneCall breaks new ground by reaching out to the public as well.
To find out more about OneCall click here