Frequently Asked Questions

People come in for many reasons. Many patients come in for help with a particular symptom such as pain or breathlessness, while some patients come in right at the end of their life. We will discuss the goals of your admission with you when you arrive.

Again, in the past, hospices focused mostly on care in the final days. Now, however, over 60% of our patients come in for a short admission to get help with a particular problem. They then go home again and might get re-admitted later in the illness. However we are certainly no longer a place just for the final days of life.

Because we are a short stay unit, beds become available all the time and a bed can often be offered either as an emergency or within a few days. The Hospice Team is always aware of who is waiting for a bed and will offer a bed to the patient who needs it most. If there is a delay before your admission we will keep you informed and offer alternative help wherever possible

We recognise that, when you are seriously ill, members of your family might want to be close to you 24 hours a day. There are facilities for close family to stay overnight especially when the situation requires. Families can stay either in a recliner chair or fold up bed in your room.

Unfortunately we are not able to provide long term care. However, each patient is considered individually and, if you are not well enough to go back to your own home, then we will work with you and your family to look at the best alternative, which might include a care home placement. We plan discharges very carefully and will keep you involved in all decisions

We welcome visitors at any time but try to have a quieter hour after lunch between 1.30pm and 2.30pm. We would encourage you to discuss visitors with your nurses if you have any anxieties about having too many visitors or if there are particular people you would like us to contact.

If visitors smoke we would respectfully ask them to step outside into the garden. There is a smoking shelter for patients and visitors are asked to use the pergola area away from the building.

It would be helpful if you brought in all your medication which you are currently taking, together with any district nursing notes or folders that are in the house. We also recommend day clothes and night clothes, a toilet bag and dressing gown, together with anything else that will keep you occupied during your stay. We do suggest nothing valuable as it is quite a busy building, so perhaps just a small amount of money for newspapers and snacks. Each bedroom has a TV.

We welcome pets onto our Inpatient Unit! However they will obviously need supervision throughout the visit and we ask that they are kept on leads while in the gardens.

We do have lots of toys in our lounge which visitors can use. Visiting children must be supervised by an adult at all times.

We have wireless internet access for patients and visitors to use on the Inpatient Unit. The nurses will give you the password!

You can use your own mobile. You will also have a phone in your bedroom on which you can receive calls and from which you can make external local calls

At The Hospice of St Francis, we know that organ or tissue donation can help patients and families feel comforted by knowing they have given hope to others and that some good has come out of their loss. However, we also realise that not everyone feels comfortable with taking such a step.

We hope this information can help if you are unsure whether this is possible for you or you are unaware of what is involved.

Your nurse will get to know you and try to understand how your illness is affecting your life and your family. They will be interested, not just in the physical problems, but in the emotional and social problems related to your illness and will help to support you through some of these issues.

They might also refer you to different members of the Hospice team, a Hospice doctor or a complementary therapist, or ask for a physiotherapist to assess you.

Our nursing team is an advisory and supportive service. If you need nursing care or supervision overnight, our nursing team will help to organise that care if it is available

Your St Francis Specialist Nurse will explain to you which numbers to ring day or night and who to ring for different sorts of help.