Read our FAQs

Connect with The Kirkwood is a new service designed to make it simple for patients, relatives and carers, as well as healthcare professionals, to reach out for advice and get access to The Kirkwood’s range of clinical services. You don't need to have been referred to The Kirkwood or know about the services we offer in order to contact our Connect with The Kirkwood team. The only criteria is that the person being referred is living with or has been affected by a life limiting illness. 

Our aim is to make sure The Kirkwood’s range of services are easily accessible to everyone who is eligible for them and Connect with The Kirkwood will make is easier for people in need to reach out for help - at any stage of their illness.

Any adult in Kirklees who is living with or is affected by a life limiting illness is eligible for The Kirkwood’s services, including Connect with The Kirkwood. People with a Kirklees GP are also eligible for our services.

Typically this involves people with cancer or chronic organ failure such as heart, lung, kidney or liver failure, but The Kirkwood also provide services for patients with progressive life limiting conditions (such as neurological conditions) in conjunction with other treating teams.

Patients, relatives, carers and professionals can contact us by:

• Calling our dedicated number and speaking to our team on: 01484 557  910
• Filling in a quick contact form on our website (your query will be sent via a secure message to the Connect with The Kirkwood team)
• (Healthcare professionals) Completing an electronic referral through the electronic patient record (SystmOne) 

As this is a new service we are exploring other ways that might make contact easier and will be assessing these over the coming months. Any ideas or feedback are appreciated.

Our Connect with The Kirkwood service is open from 8.30am - 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Outside of normal working hours (8.30am - 6.30pm, Monday to Friday) all calls to our Connect with The Kirkwood service are diverted to our 24/7 Advice Line. If you call out of hours, the call operator will take some basic details and arrange for you to be called back during Connect with The Kirkwood hours (typically the next working day).

Yes. Anyone with a life limiting illness living in Kirklees or registered with a Kirklees GP is eligible. Either click the “Get help” button on the website and choose how you'd like to get in touch. You can call our Connect with The Kirkwood team on: 01484 557 910 or fill in a contact form and the team will get back to you.

Connect with The Kirkwood has been designed to make it easy for anyone to reach out for advice and support and we encourage anyone to call or contact us if they think we might be able to help. We also encourage healthcare professionals to share information about Connect with The Kirkwood with their service users and encourage them to get in touch where appropriate.

It's important to note that The Kirkwood are not an emergency service. Where possible, we will provide advice for people with an urgent need in conjunction with a person’s usual healthcare team. One of the reasons for setting up Connect with The Kirkwood is to get to know people earlier in their illness, so that urgent situations in people not known to The Kirkwood, especially towards the end of life, might be avoided.

Connect with The Kirkwood has the following aims:

• To make access to the range of The Kirkwood’s services much easier and more straightforward for patients, relatives, careres and healthcare professionals
• To provide a single point of access for people when first reaching out for The Kirkwood’s services
• To encourage more people to get in touch for advice, information or to refer themselves to our services
• To help people understand which of our services might best suit their needs
• To identify any gaps in The Kirkwood's services that may benefit patient care in future

Yes, as long as you have sought that person’s agreement (consent) to have their details given to The Kirkwood. If you are a healthcare professional, the easiest way is to send a referral through SystmOne. If you do not have this access, or are a carer or non-health professional, either use the website button to refer or telephone 01484 557 910.

The Kirkwood provide a range of services for patients with life limiting illnesses and their families. These are summarised briefly below:

Community Palliative Care team

An experienced team of Clinical Nurse Specialists providing symptom management, future planning and advice in a person’s usual place of residence. This service is supported by hospice doctors and linking with existing community services including GP, district nursing and social care teams etc.

Care Co-ordination

A support team led by social workers which helps people to navigate through the potential options they may have for social and financial support. Like the Community Palliative Care team, they do not provide “hands on” care.

Support & Therapy service

A team that provides a wide range of holistic interventions to help manage common symptoms and issues of people with life limiting illnesses, often in a group therapy environment with other people with similar needs.

In-Patient hospice services

Once assessed, patients known to The Kirkwood or palliative care services in hospital may be eligible for a period of in-patient care in the hospice. Here, people receive management of physical, psychological, social or spiritual symptoms by a multi-professional team, when these symptoms cannot be adequately managed in a person’s usual environment. This is sometimes, but not always, at the end of life. Unfortunately we cannot provide either respite care or a long term place of care.

Counselling

The Kirkwood’s team of counsellors help to support people’s psychological, emotional and spiritual needs. These services are offered to patients and families, pre-or post-bereavement. We offer both ndividual or group sessions.

Advice and guidance

This can be given across all The Kirkwood’s services but Connect with The Kirkwood will be able to give specific advice about which of our services might suit a person. The team will also be able to offer guidance about any other services not directly provided by The Kirkwood a person may be eligible for. 

Urgent clinical advice may be sought through The Kirkwood’s 24/7 Advice Line on: 01484 557 910. Our 24/7 Advice Line is the only service offered by The Kirkwood can be accessed overnight by people living in their usual place or residence.