Who is Referred to Palliative Care

Many different kinds of patients attend Palliative Care services but all have a life-limiting condition. Treatment and care seek to help the patient to live as well as possible, for as long as possible. Many of our patients have advanced cancer, others have non-cancer illnesses, such as severe heart or lung disease.

Patients attend at different stages of their illness.  Some will have months or years to live, others may have only days or weeks. Some patients may also be attending hospital specialists for active treatments to control their illness (chemotherapy or radiotherapy, for example), whereas others are being cared for by their GPs. Some patients attend because they have difficult-to-manage symptoms such as pain or nausea that require ongoing specialist attention.  Other patients may be frail and need support to care for themselves.