Palliative Care Services Expand into Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Nearly a year ago, HUC began offering a specialised service to patients receiving palliative care who call NHS 111. The service provided patients the opportunity to speak with a clinician who works with the specific needs of these patients.
HUC continuously reviews the needs of patients and their healthcare outcomes. This ensures the services they receive meet their health needs. Healthcare innovation is at the heart of the organisation and that is why HUC works closely with partners across the healthcare landscape to ensure patients receive the best possible care.
Throughout the pandemic, HUC’s staff audited and assessed patient outcomes for NHS 111 patients and became aware of the needs of one of the most vulnerable patient groups and their special requirements: patients receiving palliative care, i.e. care that improves the quality of life for patients who are facing challenges associated with life-threatening illnesses.
In April 2021, HUC’s leadership made the decision to expand this service from Hertfordshire and West Essex into Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. This expansion allowed HUC to partner with Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, which has served the community for almost 40 years, to create direct access to palliative care nurses. “This is an example of identifying a particular need, recognising that the solution in one part of geography may need to be different from another, reflecting the differences in service provision,” said Graham Clarke, Chairman, HUC, which was just one reason he bestowed the HUC’s Chairman’s Award for Innovation for 2022 upon the staff group responsible for the development, implementation and management of this programme.
As a result of this innovation, patients and those who tend to their care across our counties are offered a service that provides healthcare advice to them at critical moments without the patient leaving their preferred place for care.
“Offering a specialised route through our NHS 111 call line was the right thing to do for our patients. Each moment they have should be as stress free as possible,” said Janice Greenhill, Chief Operating Officer, HUC.
HUC is an NHS service provider that specialises in both Primary Care Services and Integrated Urgent Care. We offer a variety of care services to our patients, and business support services to our partners, including: NHS 111, General Practitioner (GP) Out of Hours Service, Extended Access, Dental Out of Hours Service, Primary Care Services at Luton Town Centre GP Service, and Acute In Hours Visiting Service (AIHVS).
At HUC we believe in our mission, “to provide high quality, fair, sustainable healthcare services to the communities we serve,” as a result, we will always strive to deliver highly responsive and effective integrated healthcare to our patients with urgent but non-life-threatening conditions.
