St John’s community palliative care

St John’s community specialist palliative care provides expert advice and support to patients and their families or carers, both in their own home and at our outpatient clinic.

How we can help

The Doncaster community specialist palliative care nurses support patients and families living with life-limiting illnesses by providing expert care, symptom management, and home support. We collaborate closely with your GP, district nurse, and other healthcare professionals.

During your first home visit, a specialist nurse will assess you and your family or carers to determine the best support plan.

If your symptoms improve and are well managed, we may agree to discharge you from our services for a while. Before this happens, we’ll discuss it with you and ensure you have support from other teams, like your GP or district nurse.

If your needs change, a quick referral from your healthcare team can bring you back to us.

How to get help

St John’s Hospice community specialist palliative care accepts referrals for individuals, who have complex needs related to advanced, progressive, incurable, malignant, or non-malignant diseases.

Referrals require your consent and should be made by your healthcare professional when:

• the district nurses and the GP have attempted to manage the symptoms and have decided you may benefit from specialist support
• you have been discharged from the hospital, or the hospice with known complex symptoms that have required the help of the specialist palliative care team during your inpatient stay
• attempts have been made by generalist staff, for example, at outpatient clinic, to manage symptoms before referral to the Specialist Palliative Care team

Contact St John’s community palliative care

Plan your journey

If you use public transport, the Traveline journey planner provides information about what services and times are available.

Page last reviewed: March 13, 2025
Next review due: March 13, 2026