The medical team at Hospice in the Weald is led by the Medical Director who is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine. She is supported by a second Consultant and two part-time staff grade doctors (who are also local GPs), a Specialist Registrar and a Senior House Officer.
The medical team provide specialist medical advice to patients in the community, Day Therapy Centre and the In-Patient Unit. We work very closely with local GPs, attending their palliative care meetings and discussing changes in patients' treatment regimes with them. We also liaise closely with the oncologists and other consultants at the local hospitals to ensure joined up working and good communication.
Patients on the In-Patient Unit are seen daily by a doctor (including weekends), and community patients can be seen by a Hospice doctor at home or in the new weekly out-patient clinic if the community nurse feels this would be helpful. One of the team is always on call at weekends and overnight for advice.
We are regularly visited by a local anaesthetist from the Chronic Pain Clinic in Pembury who is able to perform nerve blocks and epidurals on patients who have pain which is difficult to control.
The senior doctors at the Hospice are part of the palliative care networks in Kent and East Sussex and are involved with the planning and development of palliative care services across the region. The medical director is also an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Kent and teaches on the MSc in Palliative Care.
