Palliative care

The palliative care team at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is part of an integrated service working across local boroughs and hospitals. We provide specialist palliative and end of life care to any patient who has a life-limiting illness (this includes patients with both cancer and non-cancer diagnoses), and offer support to families and carers. Referrals can be made at any stage of a patient’s illness. 

Our team includes clinical nurse specialists, nurse and medical consultants, and specialty registrars in palliative medicine. We offer specialist advice for managing pain and other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and fatigue, and provide social, spiritual and emotional support. 

We work closely with a range of healthcare professionals including GPs, physiotherapists and dietitians, as well as social workers, hospices and hospital chaplains. This enables us to help patients and their family and carers to plan for a timely transfer to their preferred place of care. 

In the early stages of illness, palliative care is provided alongside medical care and therapeutic support to improve quality of life. For patients reaching the end of life, our aim is to enable them to die in comfort, with dignity and in the surroundings of their choice. We are committed to caring for these patients, and the people important to them, with compassion and in a manner which is respectful of their expressed wishes. This is in line with national guidance, “One Chance to Get it Right”, published by the Leadership Alliance for the Care of Dying People in June 2014.

At UCLH we develop a personal care plan for each patient who is in the last days of life to ensure that they receive the best care. If a patient wishes to be cared for at home, we will do our best to accommodate this with help from community services, and talk to the relatives and carers about what is practical. For further information about what to expect, please see our leaflet for relatives and friends, Care in last days of life. 

To ensure continuity of care, each patient will have an assigned key worker who they can contact in the first instance if they have any questions or concerns. If the key worker is not available, another member of the team will offer advice and support. 

We also offer support and advice to individuals and families throughout early bereavement. 

Outpatient clinics 

Dr Jon Martin and Prof Paddy Stone run twice-weekly outpatient clinics in the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre.