End of life care

If you find yourself in a position where you need to stay unexpectedly, we have a small number of overnight stay rooms available at Pinderfields Hospital that provide privacy, dignity and a place to get some well needed rest. The rooms, designed for relatives, friends and carers of patients who are in the palliative or critical care stages of their treatment, include drinks making facilities, reclining chairs with bedding and a bathroom.

Speak to a member of ward staff to access one of these rooms.  The rooms are available for one nights’ stay and are to be vacated by 11am the following day to allow for cleaning.

In collaboration with carers and staff from Carers Wakefield & District, alongside Wakefield Council, we have developed spaces for patients, family, friends and carers to spend time away from the bedside, to speak with professionals or as a place of privacy and comfort at what can be a distressing time.

Supported by our excellent volunteers, we have introduced End of Life care resource drawers to our adult inpatient wards.  These include relevant information about what to expect during the last days of a patient’s life and the care and support that is available. Also available are handmade and donated items designed to provide a more personal, dignified and compassionate experience, alongside comfort packs containing items such as soap, toothbrush, toothpaste for visitors who may need/wish to remain at our hospitals for prolonged periods. The gold leaf symbol (below) is used on patient’s room doors to indicate to staff that extra consideration be given before entering the room, to show respect and provide dignity to patients and families

We have a number of ‘family support rooms’ situated on our elderly care wards. Designed with a fitted wardrobe complete with a fold-away bed to enable family and carers to stay in the same room overnight and be physically close to their loved ones who are living with dementia or in their final days. We made a short video to celebrate the launch of these which can be accessed here.

The Mid Yorkshire Macmillan Specialist Palliative Care Team works to provide an integrated service for patients and their families who require specialist palliative care in all of our hospitals and in the community of Wakefield and Pontefract District. The team help patients manage pain and other physical symptoms as well as provide psychological, social and spiritual support. Click here to read more.

You can also visit our Palliative Care webpage.

The Trust’s Chaplaincy team work alongside patients, their families and carers and staff to provide spiritual and religious care during times of need and uncertainty. 

Our Palliative Day Support and Therapy team at Dewsbury Hospital provides expert holistic and specialist positive support to the highest standard, for adults living in our community with a progressive life limiting illness. The team is committed to having conversations with the people who access their services to ensure that at end of life, their care is focused on ‘What matters to you’. The service provides a number of treatments and support depending on an individual’s needs.

We have transformed our mortuary viewing area, the 'Oak Leaf Suite' with bespoke artwork, a new colour scheme, improved interior design and furniture in collaboration with bereaved families, local schools and artists. The aim is to provide a calm, supportive environment that helps mitigate the distress and anguish of those visiting. The renovations were made possible due to generous donations received from the Wakefield Masonic Society. To arrange a viewing, please contact the Mortuary department via switchboard, 01924 541000.

We recognise that relatives and carers may suddenly find themselves in a distressing and emotional situation and that the environment can have a significant impact on their experience.

Our Pinderfields Emergency Department’s relatives and carers – Green suite’ rooms have been transformed thanks to proceeds and funds from MY Voluntary Services Café at Dewsbury, the Palliative Care Support Team’s charitable funds, and Engie and Consort Healthcare.

The aim of the project was to create a calm and beautiful space, to help mitigate distress and anguish following the death of a loved one.

The refurbishment included redecoration, new furniture and the addition of bespoke artwork designed and installed by Stella Corrall (Creative Director from Lucentia Design). 

The designs were produced following consultation with Emergency Department staff and our patient experience groups and co-ordinate with previous work undertaken to transform the Trust’s ‘Oak Leaf Suite’ Mortuary viewing rooms at Pinderfields.

The result of the transformation has brought a sense of calm and serenity to the suite to reflect the care and compassion people feel for their loved ones.

We now have an established service that ensures effective and timely discharge from hospital for patients who are at end of their life, designed so we can best meet people’s wishes about where they would like to die.  Through working with hospital teams and external organisations the service has massively reduced the length of time it takes to put in place necessary arrangements (care, nursing home beds, funding) from a number of weeks to a number of hours.

The service received runner up in the 2018 Patient Experience Network National Awards and we commend our colleague who drove the project’s success won the 2019 Macmillan Professionals Excellence Awards in the Quality Improvement Excellence category.

We are looking at ways of improving the experience of palliative and end of life care for patients and their loved ones in our community settings. We have a 'Priority Gold line', a single telephone number for people who are in the palliative stage of their life (or their families/carers) to ring for practical or emotional support.

This is a 24 hour a day, 365 day a year service where calls are transferred to a professional who can discuss and arrange the best support for your current needs.

We work closely with local hospices to improve standards of quality and coordination for our patients who require hospice care.

Our Community Nursing Teams provides 24-hour community nursing to patients living in the Wakefield area. Part of their work involves reducing unnecessary hospital, residential and nursing home admissions, supporting early hospital discharge and keeping people in their own homes as long as possible

You can contact our Adult Community Nursing Service and the Integrated Care Team via  the Single Point of Contact, for patients receiving nursing and/or therapy support at home:

Wakefield: 01924 327591 / Kirklees: 0300 3045555

See MY Therapy Community Team  or Locala (Kirklees): 0300 3045555