How to make a referral

Patients who would like support from St Richard’s can be referred by their GP, consultant, district nurse, or health care professional. Patients, or a person close to them, can also speak to our Gateway referral team for information or advice.

If you would like more information about referral please contact the Gateway Team on 01905 763963.

Download a referral form

The referrer must clearly state the purpose of the referral.
A completed referral form should be emailed to the hospice at the address on the referral form.
The form should be accompanied by supporting documentation, for example: hospital letters, reports or GP summary, and a list of the patient’s current medication. Failure to do so will result in a delay in processing the referral.

For patients with decision making capacity, referral must be discussed with them and made with their consent. On receipt of the referral form, details will be entered on SystmOne, the palliative care database in use across Worcestershire.

In all cases the GP, who is the key person in charge of that patient’s care, will be informed. We will then phone the patient to discuss any concerns and, if needed, we can arrange a convenient time to visit to plan the support we can offer. At all stages, we work in partnership with the community teams and acute hospital services involved in the patient’s care.

Urgent referrals

Follow this link for full details on how to make an urgent referral to the In-patient Unit, Nurse Specialist Team, Living Well Team or Family Support Team.

Non-urgent referrals

Nurse specialist team or living well centre

Patients must be registered with a GP in South Worcestershire.
Email referral to the hospice at the address on the referral form.
All referrals will be entered onto the SystmOne electronic patient record within one working day.
A member of the Gateway Team will contact the patient or family within two weeks in order to determine the support required.
Provision of comprehensive clinical information at the point of referral will help to ensure first contact is timely

Out-patient assessment

Referrals should be made as above, stating out-patient clinic assessment by a clinical nurse specialist or doctor is required.

In-patient Unit

To refer a patient for admission to the In-patient Unit, please email the hospice at the address on the referral form.
The multidisciplinary team meets daily at 9.30am, Monday to Friday, to review and prioritise patients on the waiting list.
In order for the team to make decisions appropriately, they must have a clear picture of the patient’s medical condition and the need for specialist, palliative in-patient care.
The ability to admit a patient depends on the available beds, and capacity of medical and nursing staff. It should not compromise the care given to patients already on the unit.
Admission will normally be arranged before 2pm to allow time for adequate assessment and treatment.
Our In-patient Unit can support up to 17 patients in single en suite rooms.
A patient’s length of stay in the In-patient Unit will be determined by the multidisciplinary team. Planning for discharge will start soon after admission, unless this is clearly inappropriate.
To find out more about Advance Care Planning and the Worcestershire Advance Statement visit the South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group website.

Family Support Team

To refer a person to the Family Support Team, please email the hospice at the address on the referral form.

Please note:

Our staff are trained to work therapeutically in pre-and-post bereavement care.

The safety and wellbeing of each individual is paramount. Therefore, it is essential that we work within our skillset and competence as professionals. This safeguards both individuals and professionals.

We are:

unlikely to support individuals who are actively suicidal, self-harming, or at high risk.
unlikely to be able to offer support if another external agency is providing therapeutic support, e.g. Mental health
unlikely to support if clients are actively using substances to cope/manage. This needs to be under control and well managed before we can accept the referral.
St Richard’s Hospice and Bereavement Support South Worcestershire are unlikely to offer urgent pre and post bereavement support.

If we are not able to offer support we will signpost individuals to other services so they can access the right support at the right time.

We will:

consider each individual. If it is determined that an individual does not meet the criteria for our service we will we will look at alternative options including signposting, and may on occasion offer a brief intervention if appropriate.
signpost individuals and health professionals to specialist services, both local and national.
Offer training in pre-and-post bereavement support for external staff by the St Richard’s Learning Team

Referral to Bereavement Support South Worcestershire (BSSW)

A person can be referred for support from BSSW by a healthcare professional, or they can refer themselves. Due to the current high demand for our counselling service, we are experiencing longer than-expected waiting lists for bereavement support. Currently, the wait from assessment to accessing counselling is approximately 9 – 12 months for BSSW. The time from referral to assessment is four weeks.
If you are registered with a GP in South Worcestershire (Martley, Evesham, Worcester, Great Malvern, Droitwich, Pershore and surrounding areas) you can call our Telephone Helpline 01905 760934 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm for advice on support available in your area.
Due to high demand for the bereavement service, St Richard’s Hospice can only accept bereavement referrals for adults who have been bereaved for between three months and three years. We cannot accept referrals over three years since bereavement unless the bereaved person has been supported by us previously. Individuals can access our self care through bereavement webinar
Our staff are trained to work therapeutically in pre-and-post bereavement care. The safety and wellbeing of each individual is paramount. Therefore, it is essential that we work within our skillset and competence as professionals. This safeguards both individuals and professionals. If we are not able to offer support we will signpost individuals to other services so they can access the right support at the right time. (see details in the Family Support section above)
We will consider referrals before three months bereavement if there are complexities, for example bereavement through suicide.
We will continue to accept bereavement referrals for children and young people under 18 years at any stage of their bereavement.
In certain circumstances, we can offer pre-bereavement support.