Referring to Hospice at Home

Learn more about our referral criteria and process for our adult Hospice at Home service.

Referring to Hospice at Home

Would your patient benefit from our Hospice at Home service? 

Patients registered with this service can access our nurses’ specialist care in their own home any time of the day or night, every day of the year.  For full details of the support this service can provide, please see our Hospice at Home service information page. 

Here are some important things to note before making a referral for our Hospice at Home service:

  • We are a responsive service, not an emergency service – it’s important patients know this. 
  • Rennie Grove Peace delivers care in partnership with existing primary and secondary services.  
  • Prior to a first visit, we do make patients aware that, following a clinical assessment, we can only take them onto our caseload if they meet our criteria.  
  • Prioritisation of referrals is undertaken based on assessment of need and urgency. Rennie Grove Peace will only accept referrals when the patient has given consent to the referral and been made aware of their diagnosis/prognosis.  
  • Commencing a syringe pump is not a rationale for referral if symptoms are not complex/or if another SPC service is involved.  
  • An incomplete referral will be returned for further information and Rennie Grove Peace will take no action until all fields are satisfactorily completed.  
  • If you make an urgent referral, please phone us to discuss.  
  • Inpatients must have a planned discharge date before they are referred. 

Healthcare professionals can refer patients who are:

  • Registered to a GP in our catchment area across Herts and Bucks
  • Aged over 18
  • Living with cancer or any progressive or chronic life-limiting illness, provided they meet at least one criteria from each of the two criteria groups below.

Criteria group 1:

  • Patient is experiencing complex or severe symptoms that haven’t responded to routine treatments or interventions from other services or care providers.
  • Due to the complexity and/or intensity of symptoms, the patient’s needs cannot solely be met by other services/care providers.
  • Dying is complicated by complex symptom needs and psychological/spiritual/social distress in family or patient.
  • Patients and their carers are having difficulties adjusting to or coping with their disease psychologically/spiritually/emotionally and generalist support has not been able to meet their needs.
  • Issues around treatment and ethical decisions to support decision making.  

Criteria group 2:

  • Patient is experiencing uncontrolled and/or severe symptoms that are not responsive to first line management.
  • Rapid changes in condition mean urgent assessment is required to inform clinical management decisions and appropriate place of care. 
  • High levels of anxiety/distress are affecting ongoing care and treatment. 
  • Primary care involvement/referral must be in place. 
  • No other Specialist Palliative Care service (SPC) is involved in the patient’s care. 
  • The patient must have been assessed by a registered healthcare professional within the last 48 hours. 

Want to know more about our services before you refer?

Contact our Coordination Centre to find out about our wide variety of over 40 services – for your newly diagnosed patients to those needing end-of-life care. We can help you find the services that best fit your patient’s needs.

All Hertfordshire referrals for Rennie Grove Peace adult Hospice at Home service go via the Palliative Care Referral Centre (PCRC).  Here is the process to follow: 

1. download a Herts referral form below.

2. complete the form ensuring you have included the appropriate Herts referral priority code as follows:

  • SP1 (first contact within 2-4 hours)
  • SP2(first contact within 24 hours)
  • SP3 (first contact within 1-4 days)
  • SP4(first contact within 5 days or more)

3. submit the form, including any documentation, to:

Palliative Care Referral Centre (PCRC)
Tel: 0333 234 0868 Email:  Westherts.pcrc@nhs.net

4. for urgent referrals, please ALSO phone the number provided on the form.  

Download Herts referral form

All Buckinghamshire referrals for Rennie Grove Peace adult Hospice at Home service should be made via the Single Point of Access (SPA). Here is the process:

1. download the Buckinghamshire referral form below.

2. complete the form, ensuring you have included the appropriate Bucks referral priority code as follows:

  • Urgent (first contact within 24 hours
  • Soon (first contact within 1-4 days)
  • Routine (first contact within 5 days or more)

3. submit the referral form, including any documentation, to:

Single Point of Access (SPA)
Tel: 01296 332608   Email:  buc-tr.fnhspa@nhs.net   Fax: 01963 32645

4. for urgent referrals, please ALSO phone the number provided on the form.  

Download Bucks referral form

All patients will be made aware on the first visit that they will be reviewed on a regular basis and may be discharged from our service if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • After a period of care where symptoms have improved or resolved
  • Complex social/psychological or spiritual issues have been addressed
  • On-going patient and family needs can be managed by primary care
  • Patient and family no longer want to receive service or are refusing regular visits for a period longer than ​three months
  • Specialist Nursing care not appropriate to meet patient needs (i.e. social)

Get in touch about care

For questions about any of our services, help on getting or making a referral, or if you'd like to talk to someone about how we can help support you, a loved one, or a patient, here's how to get in touch.

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