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Formulary
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16.1 Palliative care services: contact details, resources
Torbay and South Devon
- 01803 210800 - 24 hour advice line. Ask for the senior nurse or doctor on-call
Torbay Hospital
- 01803 655056 - Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm
- 01803 210800 - Out-of-hours, including weekends and bank holidays, 24 hour advice line
Rowcroft Community Specialist Palliative Care Team (covering Torbay and South Devon)
- 01803 210811 - Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm
- 01803 210812 - Out-of-hours, including weekends and bank holidays, 9am-1pm
- 01803 210800 - Out-of-hours, including weekends and bank holidays, 24 hour advice line
Hospice at Home team
Service available for patients with prognosis of less than 2 weeks who wish to die at home
- 01803 217620 - available 24/7
West Devon
St Luke's Hospice, Turnchapel, in-patients unit
- 01752 401172 - 24 hours advice line. Ask for senior nurse or doctor on-call
St Luke's Hospice, Turnchapel, outpatients clinic
- 01752 401172 Monday PM (combined Palliative Care and Pain Clinic)
Derriford Hospital St Luke's Specialist Palliative Care Team
- 01752 436744
The Mustard Tree, Derriford Hospital – Cancer Support Centre
- 01752 430060
Jeremiah's Journey, Derriford Hospital – Grief Support for Children & Parents
- 01752 424348
St Luke's Community Specialist Palliative Care Team
Covering Plymouth, South Hams and West Devon
- 01752 964200 Available 9am-5pm, 7 days per week)
North & East Cornwall
Specialist Palliative Care Team
- 01208 251300 - Available 9am-4.30pm, 7 days per week, 24 hours for Health Professionals
Advance Care Planning (ACP) can help the patients and those close to them prepare for the future. It gives an opportunity to think about, talk about and write down preferences and priorities for future care, including how they want to receive care towards the end of life.
The Advanced care Planning booklet can be downloaded from the One Devon website, along with resources for healthcare workers around treatment escalation plans (TEP).
- Aim to achieve the best possible quality of life for the patient
- Sensitive explanation and inclusion of patient and carers in decision making are essential
- Accurate and full assessment is essential for both diagnosis and treatment
- When symptoms are difficult to control, there may be more than one cause, or there may be emotional, psychological, social or spiritual factors, hence the need for a multi-professional approach
- Be careful that drug side effects do not become worse than the original problem
- Frequent re-assessment and review is essential
- Seek specialist palliative care advice:
- if there is a problem which does not respond as expected
- in complex situations which may benefit from specialist expertise
- for support for the hospital or primary health care team
This formulary has been produced with reference to local symptom control guidelines. Each section lists drugs that have a recognised place in the control of individual symptoms.
Some of the drug usages recommended are outside of product licence, either by way of indication, dose or route of administration. However, the approaches described are recognised as reasonable practice within palliative medicine in the UK. If you are concerned about prescribing in such areas, the Specialist Palliative Care Teams are available to provide further information and support.
St Luke's Hospice - healthcare professionals information
Rowcroft - clinical resources
Enhanced Service for the Availability of Specialist Medicines
Details of the Enhanced Service for the Availability of Specialist Medicines, including a list of medications designed to meet the urgent needs of patients and the community pharmacies in Devon providing the service can be found here (see under Guidance Resources).
