University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) specialist palliative care team

What is palliative care?

If you have an illness that cannot be cured, palliative care makes you as comfortable as possible by managing your pain and other distressing symptoms.  

Palliative care is an approach that any doctor, nurse, therapist or carer can use. It supports people who have an illness that may shorten their life. It focusses on the whole person and their family, not just the illness. It looks at the problems the illness is causing and helps to find solutions. It tries to improve quality of life.

Some people worry that palliative care means that doctors are ‘giving up’. This is not true. People can still have other medical and surgical treatments if they will help.

Palliative care can start at any time in an illness.  Some people have palliative care for a number of years.

End of life care is palliative care for people who are in the last year of their life.  Use this link to find out about end of life care in our hospitals.

What does the hospital specialist palliative care team do?

Some adults have more complex palliative care needs that require specialist help. These needs are more common in the last year of life. Our consultant -led team of doctors and nurses work 7 days a week to:

• Give expert advice for adult patients with complex palliative care needs.
• Promote the physical, psychological, social and spiritual well-being of adult patients. This may include:
  • control of pain and other symptoms
  • helping adult patients make informed choices about the things that matter to them
  • signposting for financial support 

If you think a palliative care review would help, talk to the ward doctors. They can make a referral to the specialist palliative care team if needed.

Use this link to download the UHL hospital specialist palliative care team leaflet.  

Other palliative care services in Leicester

• Hospice: We work closely with LOROS, the hospice in Leicester.            See this link for information on LOROS services. 

• At home: The Leicester integrated community palliative care team give advice to people who are at home or in a care home or a nursing home.  See this link for information on the Leicester community palliative care  team