Referring patients

Making a referral to the Marie Curie Nursing Service

To refer a patient to the Marie Curie Nursing Service, call the Marie Curie Referral Centre on 08450 567 899 (local rate call).

The Referral Centre is open 8am-10pm every day of the year (excluding Christmas Day and New Year's Day).

Please note, in a few areas of the UK local arrangements for booking Marie Curie Nursing staff apply. Ask your Marie Curie Nursing Service Manager (NSM) if you are unsure if this applies in your area.

Before making a referral, you will need the following information to hand:

1. About the referrer

• Your contact details
• PCT/LHB/CHP or Healthboard Locality Code
• Contact details for patient’s GP

2. About the patient

• Contact details, including postcode
• Access to the property
• Diagnosis
• Prognosis
• Past medical history
• Symptoms
• Psychological state
• Communication and mobility status
• Family overview

3. About the care

• The care plan
• Medication
• Manual handling requirements
• Risk assessment factors
• Appliances in use
• Equipment available (aprons, gloves etc)
• Priority for care category (see below).

Priority for care

To allow us to respond effectively to requests for care, we will ask you to make an assessment of the patient’s and their family’s or carer’s needs according to the categories below each time you make a referral.

Urgent

• Prognosis of hours to days
• Same day / next day response is needed
• Rapidly deteriorating condition
• Uncontrolled symptoms requiring nursing intervention
• Carer unable to cope with changing / unpredictable demands in patient’s care
• Breakdown in care will lead to an in-patient admission
• Rapid discharge from in-patient setting.

Urgent referrals can retain this category for up to five days.

Changing needs

• Prognosis of days to weeks
• Patient requires a high level of nursing care
• Patient’s needs are changing
• Patient has symptoms that are unstable
• High levels of patient / carer anxiety
• Needs of the family / carer are unstable with a risk of increasing further
• Patient is not in their preferred place of care

Stable needs

• Prognosis of weeks to months
• Patient requires a low level of nursing care
• Patient is asymptomatic or their symptoms are well controlled
• Patient is deteriorating slowly
• Low levels of patient / family anxiety
• Planned care packages to facilitate discharge

After a referral has been made, patients will receive an information pack containing a copy of our booklet, Being cared for at home (PDF, 749KB), access to our support line Marie Curie Direct and a reply-paid questionnaire asking for feedback about our services. This is mailed direct to the patient’s address.

We encourage and welcome feedback so we can continually improve our services. More than 90 per cent of patients and carers rated Marie Curie nursing and the care provided by Marie Curie Hospices as “excellent”.

For more comprehensive information, download our guide to the Marie Curie Nursing Service for District Nurses. 

Marie Curie Nursing Service Managers (MCNS)

In addition to recruiting, developing and managing a skilled nursing workforce, MCNS managers are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the service. They work with District Nurses and our Nursing referral centre to match appropriately skilled nursing staff to patients and develop packages of care.

As Registered Nurses with qualifications and experience in cancer or palliative care, they work closely with District Nurses to help meet the needs of patients and carers in their area.

The manager reviews patients’ needs periodically with the District Nurse to ensure they are receiving the right level of care.

Referring a patient to a Marie Curie Hospice

To refer a patient to a Marie Curie Hospice, please make direct contact with the hospice.