In focus: approaches to symptom management - palliative and hospice care

[OvacomeSupport]

Hello

This month in our Health in Focus posts, we’re going to look at some of the different approaches to management of cancer symptoms and side effects of treatment. Today we’ll look in more detail at the help available from palliative care teams in hospitals and hospices. We’ll also cover complementary therapies, food and sleep in our future posts in the series.

Palliative care means care aimed at controlling symptoms and supporting quality of life. It can often be confused with end of life care, but palliative care can be offered at any point, from diagnosis through to after the end of treatment. It can also be given alongside active treatment such as chemotherapy.

People experiencing symptoms such as pain, nausea, breathlessness and fatigue who would benefit from specialist help with managing these may be referred to a palliative care service.

As well as prescribing medication to help with physical symptoms, palliative care services can also offer holistic care, including physiotherapy and occupational therapy, complementary therapies and psychological and spiritual support.

For people approaching the end of their life, palliative care can help to maintain comfort and help the patient and their loved ones with end of life planning and bereavement support. Hospitals often have their own palliative care teams, who can see patients in hospital and may also be able to visit them at home, such as royalmarsden.nhs.uk/our-con...

Palliative care can also be provided by hospices. A community palliative care team, who provide care for people in their own homes, may be based at a hospice. Hospice care can be offered at home or in care facilities, as well as in the hospice itself (nhs.uk/conditions/end-of-li.... Hospices are generally designed to feel more like home than a hospital or clinic. People can attend hospices for the day, for a short stay to help establish control of their symptoms, for respite care and for end of life care. For example, st-gemma.co.uk/for-patients

You can ask your team or your GP to refer you to local palliative or hospice care services, if you think that it would be helpful for you.

Because palliative care services take a holistic approach, it’s helpful to be referred to them early so that they can get to know you and understand what’s important to you (dana-farber.org/health-libr.... This helps them to offer care that reflects your beliefs, preferences and values.

If you would like to share your experiences of palliative and hospice care, please comment on this post. For more information, or if we can help, please contact our Support Service on 0800 008 7054 or email [e-mail].

Best wishes

Julia

Ovacome Support