Award for palliative care | News and events

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s innovative Palliative Care Hub has been recognised at the HSJ Awards where it received the Primary Care Innovation of the Year Award.

Set up in April 2021, the Palliative Care Hub is a dedicated telephone service that helps patients, carers, and other health care professionals access palliative care support. By calling 111 and selecting option 3 anyone can speak to a palliative care clinical nurse specialist who can provide medical advice to support patients approaching the end of their lives.

The Palliative Care Hub, which is commissioned by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), is operated by Arthur Rank Hospice Charity in partnership with HUC (Herts Urgent Care) who provide the local NHS 111 service and the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

Dr Gary Howsam, Chair of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, said,

“I am thrilled that the Palliative Care Hub service has been recognised by the HSJ awards. By providing specialist advice, co-ordinating care, and providing referrals patients are given more choice and control over their care, and crucially, a better end of life experience.

“It is also a great example how partners across our local health and care system are working together to improve local services.”

Sharon Allen OBE, Chief Executive at Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, said,

“Arthur Rank Hospice Charity is delighted that our partnership with the CCG, HUC and the Ambulance Trust has been recognised with this prestigious award. Our skilled and compassionate team is there to provide advice, support and reassurance to people and their loved ones living with a life-limiting illness or who are at the end of life. We are proud of what has been achieved in such a short time and look forward to continued collaborative working to ensure citizens of Cambridgeshire receive the best palliative and end of life care wherever and whenever they need it. 

The HSJ awards judges said of the Palliative Care Hub, “This innovative project demonstrated that it had an impact across all patient cohorts and the ability to support families and carers at the most vulnerable time in their lives. The project has a bigger potential for spread, which has been recognised by national organisations. The team seized the opportunities they had to make successful and life changing interventions. Well done.”