Hospice at home puts the patient and those close to them first, enabling patients with advanced illness to be cared for where they feel most comfortable. Wherever possible, we believe that patients should be given a choice of where they would like to be cared for and for some individuals with a life-limiting and progressive illness that place is in their own home.
Hospice at Home is a key part of our flagship Emergency End of Life Response Team (EELRT), an initiative which enables people to be where they wish to be at the end of life; at home or in their usual care home, rather than in a busy hospital.
EELRT is a partnership between Rowans Hospice, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
We are working together, across boundaries to enable people to spend their final days in their preferred place of care. This is achieved by Call Before Convey for those at home, & Rapid Assessment for those in hospital. You can read more about EELRT here.
Call Before Convey
EELRT Call Before Convey is there to support when somebody is in the final days of life, in urgent need of help to avoid being admitted to hospital. Those healthcare professionals, for example paramedics, responding to this emergency can refer to EELRT for Hospice at Home support.
Rapid Assessment in Hospital
If somebody is in their final days at Queen Alexandra Hospital, EELRT can rapidly assess to enable a safe, efficient discharge to their preferred place. Hospice at Home will then provide ongoing support.
For those assessed by EELRT who wish to spend their final days at Rowans Hospice, an urgent inpatient referral will be made.
For those patients who do not live within the Rowans Hospice catchment area, the EELRT assessor will liaise with the relevant teams to try and support a rapid discharge home or to their local Hospice.
Whether the referral has come via EELRT or other routes, our Hospice at Home service provides practical nursing care and advice in the community, available 24 hours a day.
Our highly trained team work with community services and other healthcare professionals to provide similar care to that which is available in the Hospice (‘Virtual Ward’), supporting patients to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own home or rest home at end of life.
Medical advice from a senior doctor is always available to the Hospice at Home team when needed.
If you or a loved one would like to be referred to the Hospice at Home service, speak to your health/social care professional. This could be your GP, hospital professional or community nurse. They can then refer you to our service.
If you would like to speak to us before you request a referral, please call us on 023 9225 0001, or email rowanshospice.psehpcsh@nhs.net. We will be happy to answer any questions you have about our Hospice at Home service and to provide guidance if you require it on how to obtain a referral from your healthcare professional.
The service is free to those with a life-limiting and progressive illness who require palliative and end- of-life care services in the last year of their life.
As a charity, we rely solely on donations. If you would like to make a donation to support us, please visit our donate page.
