Our purpose is to provide compassionate, specialised end of life care for patients, their families and carers whilst guaranteeing our high-quality standards. Together with our local community in Cornwall, we will continue to make every day matter.
Although Cornwall Hospice Care is not part of the NHS, we work very much in tandem with our partners in Specialist Palliative Care across the county.
We work very closely with the Community Specialist Palliative Care Nurses (CSPCNs) and the Hospital Specialist Palliative Care team at Royal Cornwall Hospital Treliske (RCHT). Integrated working helps all healthcare professionals provide good palliative care, so if you have a specific query you’d like help with, you’re welcome to contact our hospice teams for advice.
You can contact the NHS Specialist Palliative Care teams on:
Alongside beds on our in-patient units, we also accept referrals from healthcare professionals to our on-site Lymphoedema clinics and the other services we have to support patients closer to home.
All these services are provided for free, thanks to the generosity of those who support our Cornish charity.
The latest local NHS Clinical Guidelines for end of life Care Plan can be found on the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust website HERE.
You can also find the latest information on their website for Anticipatory Prescribing Guidelines. Latest Renal Anticipatory Prescribing Guidance can be found HERE.
Patients can be referred to us by any of the key healthcare professionals involved in their care, but always in liaison with their GP or hospital consultant to ensure continuity and coordination of care. Most patients come into our units because they are struggling with particular symptoms or the overall burden of their illness.
We aim to discharge patients home or to an appropriate place of care, once their symptoms are stable.
Some patients come to us for end of life care because they have care needs that can best be managed in the hospice. However, many patients are supported in their homes or other care settings. We are not able to offer respite care or long-term care.
Our inpatient referral process
To gain insight into our two inpatient hospices, please watch our Virtual Tours.
Our specialist Lymphoedema practitioners Helen Treleaven, Chris Jones and Lianne Best offer clinics at both Mount Edgcumbe Hospice, St Austell and St Julia’s Hospice, Hayle offering a range of treatments to help patients manage their symptoms and live life as well as possible.
We also offer a wide range of support outside of our inpatient units. These are free and available to anyone – no connection to our hospices is needed to access these services.
Bereavement support
Neighbourhood hubs
We welcome referrals to these services from healthcare professionals. You can also call our Community Services team on 01726 829874 or email communityservices@cornwallhospice.co.uk for more information.
Cornwall Hospice Care along with all Specialist Palliative Care, and End of Life Education teams across Cornwall have worked together to develop the understanding and delivery of Advance Care Planning (ACP) across all care settings.
This work has also led to Cornwall working collaboratively with Gloucestershire Integrated Commissioning Directorate Personaliser Care Manager with regards to the ‘What Matters to Me’ Orange Folder initiative. This supports ACP conversations that deliver personalised care at the end of life, but also ensures these conversations are well documented and communicated.
The Orange Folder, as a patient held document, then makes sure that this information is available to all health professionals and all care settings our patients encounter, and contribute to enabling the Preferred Place of Care.
If you would like to learn more about Advance Care Planning, please see the section below on how to access training available through our Education Department.
To find out more about the Orange Folder initiative please contact our Advanced Nurse Practitioner.
Hospices are very special places to work. They were founded by an extraordinary visionary, Dame Cicely Saunders, who felt strongly that the dying needed as much care and support as the living.
“You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.”
The hospice ethos is distinct from that of a hospital, so working with us may look and feel very different to other wards you will have worked on. Our location at the very South West tip of the UK also means it’s a unique area to work in. You can learn more about living and working in our beautiful county.
We employ our own specialty doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and therapists. All our job vacancies are advertised on our website.
At Cornwall Hospice Care, we are committed to supporting people involved in all areas of End of Life Care. Our Education team offers high-quality education and training to all staff across various settings, including hospitals, residential and nursing homes, care agencies and individual carers.
We aim to constantly improve services to patients and relatives by working collaboratively with health and social care partners to ensure best practice standards are maintained.
The courses we currently offer are:
We can also offer bespoke training – contact the Education team to discuss your requirements.
We’re always happy to share our knowledge and expertise and can organise visits to our hospices for healthcare professionals wanting to know more about palliative and end of life care.
Our Education team can also arrange healthcare student placements please get in touch to find out more.
Thank you for supporting my placement with you. It has been beyond my expectations and I’m so grateful. I know that having students around is part of being in healthcare but you have gone out of your way to include me, support me and teach me and I never take that for granted. I will take everything I have learned into my future nursing career and I will remember your kindness.
Cornwall Hospice Care Feedback – December 2024
The Cornwall End of Life Education Group was formed by representatives from Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Cornwall Hospice Care, Kernow Health CIC as well as independent community care providers. The group set out to address the education needs of the healthcare workforce across Cornwall in relation to end of life care.
Cornwall’s geography presents challenges to in-person events, and an on-line programme for the End of Life Learning Path is now available to the entire health and social care community.
This electronic Learning Path is supported by a hand-held passport for discussion and evidence of learning. This is complemented by a programme of face-to-face education sessions available locally in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
