Referrals

Dorothy House provides care, free of charge, within our catchment area of
North and West Wiltshire (Wilts), Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) and the North–Eastern part of Somerset (Mendip). 

Who is eligible for our care?

Patients -

• Anyone over the age of 18 with active, progressive and advanced disease which is also life limiting. This includes, amongst others, diseases such as cancer, heart and/or lung disease, and neurological diseases.
• Patients referred to us may be close to the end of active treatment when a doctor has advised either that no further treatment will be of benefit or that further treatment is purely for the relief of difficult and often distressing symptoms.
• The patient may be near the end of their life and may have chosen to die in a hospice.
• The patient (or their chosen representative i.e. their advocate or the person carrying out a health and welfare Enduring/Lasting Power of Attorney) must agree to the referral.

Carers -

• The family and/or carers of patients may be referred in their own right if their situation is complex and they need additional help and support in order to continue their caring role.  The Family Support Team can assess carer needs in their own right.  (Please note this still requires a patient referral even if we are not required to care for the patient).  

For patients and carers -

• The GP must agree that care from the hospice would be beneficial. 

Please note that even if the referral does not meet these criteria, Dorothy House can still offer support and advice (mainly by telephone via our Advice Line) to the professionals who are trying to make decisions with and for the patient and you as the carer. We can also offer training on issues that may be relevant to patient care.

Who may make a referral to Dorothy House?

• A patient - but we will always seek permission from the relevant GP to become involved.
• The family or carer(s) of a patient - but again we will always seek permission from the relevant GP to become involved.
• Any health or social care professional who knows the patient and has asked their permission. The professional may be, for example, the patient’s GP, a district nurse, a social worker or staff at the hospital where the patient is receiving treatment.

How to make a referral to Dorothy House

• Referrals must be made on a fully completed referral form so that we have the correct information for the benefit and care of the patient. The form may then be emailed by NHS secure email only, or sent by post. It may not be sent by fax.
• A professional making the referral must also attach recent letters, scan and blood test results and any other relevant information, so that we may safely proceed. If the referral is from a patient or their family/carer(s), we will request the additional information from the GP and/or the hospital caring for the patient.
• If the referral comes from a patient or family carer we will ALWAYS seek permission from the GP to activate the request.

What happens after referral?

The referral form requests any or all of our services here at Dorothy House.

Our multi-disciplinary team look at the referral and ensure that it meets our criteria. If it does meet them we will:

1. Allocate care, initially, to one department. The departmental team will commence their care by telephoning the patient (unless the request specifies we should ring the referrer or a family member) to make an appointment either to visit them at home or to offer an appointment in our out-patient wing at DHor another setting such as an outreach centre belonging to DH.

2. If the first referral we receive is for a stay in our in-patient unit then the IPU will make contact with the patient / family to arrange admission or to talk about their needs.

3. Each department has its own referral guidelines. We have these guidelines so that we can be as fair as possible to all those who live in our catchment area.

If we have queries, we will contact the patient and the person who made the referral to ensure that we proceed correctly.

Please note that some individuals/patients who are referred for our care do not fit our criteria. We reserve the right to discuss this with the person making the referral and, occasionally, we will be unable to undertake the care of the patient / family.

Dorothy House prides itself on seeing those referred in a very short period of time. Our standards for this are:

Urgent referrals are CONTACTED within 1-2 working days.

Soon referrals are CONTACTED within one week.

Routine referrals are CONTACTED within 2 weeks.

(Please note that this initial CONTACT does not mean a visit: it will more than probably be a telephone call in which a visit is arranged for a mutually convenient place, time and date.)

Usually we try to make our response much faster than these timescales. We believe that all care should be timely and we realise that waiting for us to respond after a referral will cause anxiety. We try to keep the waiting time as short as possible.  Conversely, a) a referral may take a little longer to reach us than anticipated and therefore our response may appear to be slower than indicated above. If this is a cause of anxiety, a simple phone call to us or to the person making the referral should resolve the problem.  b) Our rapid responses can cause anxiety!  This is not our aim!  We are trying to ensure that you, our patients, get help and advice at the time that is right for you.

Updated: 02 January 2013