Marie Curie Cancer Care’s core services have been specially developed after input from district nurses, who wanted a more flexible service with access to a quicker referral process.
These services are available to patients across the UK with any terminal diagnosis and are provided free of charge to the patient.
Check with your local Marie Curie Nursing Service manager as to whether your primary care trust (PCT) has commissioned these services to be available to you.
For further information, read our comprehensive services guide below.
Our core service for supporting end of life patients and their families at home is overnight, however it is also available during the day and evening, subject to local agreement. The service provides predictability of care and helps district nurses plan their patient caseload.
Key features of this service include:
The reactive service is an extension to our planned service and is designed to ensure patients get the support they need that night.
The service is particularly effective in facilitating discharge from hospital and avoiding unnecessary admissions.
This is a further extension to our planned service and supports the community team in caring for patients where short episodes of care are required rather than a full-length shift.
For example, an evening visit lasting two hours can help settle patients for the night and also help reduce avoidable hospital admissions.
Key features of this service include planned visits of variable duration (usually up to two hours). Multiple visits per shift are available.
The rapid response service was designed to respond to the changing clinical condition of a patient and provide urgent care at short notice.
This may be symptom management, crisis intervention and psychological support for the patient or carer, and can be delivered in the home or via telephone support.
Marie Curie Discharge Liaison Nurses work to develop and implement individual discharge plans for patients and families. This ensures that care in the patient's place of choice can begin as quickly as possible.
The service speeds up, supports and coordinates the discharge process providing a link between patients and various care providers whether hospital or community based.
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