The specialist care provided by our adult hospice is:
- for patients diagnosed as having an active, progressive and/or advanced disease (cancer or non-malignant origin);
- needs-based and not diagnosis-based;
- for patients whose specialist palliative care cannot be more appropriately provided anywhere else, taking into account patient choice;
- for patients living in the South Bedfordshire and Luton area.
The help required may be intermittent or continuous, depending on the level of needs and the rate of disease progression.
Examples of needs can be:
- uncontrolled or complicated symptoms or specialised nursing requirements relating to mobility, functioning or self-care;
- emotional, psychological difficulties related to the illness;
- carer breakdown;
- unresolved issues around self-worth, loss of meaning and hope, as well as ethical dilemmas and complex decisions over the type of care, including its withholding or withdrawal.
