The Marie Curie Nursing Service helps people who are approaching the end of their lives to remain at home if they wish to, through its nationwide network of Marie Curie Nurses who provide nursing care at home.
We cover 95 per cent of the UK. Our service is free to the people we care for, their families and carers.
Our core service is one-to-one overnight nursing from a Registered Nurse or Senior Healthcare Assistant in a patient’s home, usually for eight or nine hours.
In some parts of the UK, we can also offer shorter shifts, evening shifts and day shifts.
In a limited number of areas, we also run a rapid response service in which nurses go in to a patient’s home at short notice in a crisis. We want to offer this service more widely, but need an agreement with local NHS trusts to provide it.
When planning your care, the District Nurse may mention the Marie Curie Nursing Service and discuss with you whether it would be appropriate to request a Marie Curie Nurse. If so, they will also discuss what visits would be best (eg overnight or daytime) and what number or frequency of visits would be appropriate.
In consultation with you and the person caring for you, the District Nurse will decide what hours of care are needed. A night shift is usually from 10pm to 7am but it may be possible to negotiate different times through your District Nurse.
The District Nurse will also consider whether your nursing needs require a Registered Nurse or Senior Healthcare Assistant.
Find out how to get a Marie Curie Nurse
Marie Curie Nurses care for people in the last few months or weeks of their lives. Macmillan Nurses care for people with cancer from when they are first diagnosed.
Marie Curie Nurses generally spend several hours at a time in a person’s home providing nursing care and emotional support, often overnight. Macmillan Nurses usually spend up to an hour in a person’s home providing advice on pain management and symptom control together with emotional support.
Find out more about our nurses in these special films
Marie Curie Nurses talk about their jobs in these films
Watch our video tutorials designed to help carers
©2013 Marie Curie Cancer Care - Registered in England and Wales with Charity Reg No. 207994 and in Scotland with Charity Reg No. SC038731