The support offered to palliative care patients and their families in North Lincolnshire has been recognised by a national awards scheme.
District nurses, Macmillan specialist palliative care nurses and the End-of-Life team at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) have been shortlisted alongside colleagues from Lindsey Lodge Hospice for a prestigious award celebrating innovation and excellence in palliative care.
This award celebrates their collaborative efforts to streamline and enhance the palliative and end-of-life care referral process. By consolidating all county-wide services into a single, central referral form, patients can now be easily directed to the most beneficial services, ensuring they receive comprehensive support.
Together, the teams have been recognised for their work in enhancing access to specialist support and advice for patients and families at the most challenging of times. They are jointly shortlisted for the ‘Partnership Working Across Health and Social Care Award’ at this year’s Palliative and End of Life Care Awards.
The previous system required separate referrals for each service, often leading to delays and missed opportunities for vital assistance during a challenging time. This new partnership guarantees a single point of access for patients, carers, and healthcare professionals, significantly reducing duplication and ensuring timely, appropriate care.
A key component of this innovative approach is Lindsey Lodge’s Butterfly Line, a dedicated 24/7 telephone support service launched in 2022. This helpline provides round-the-clock access to palliative and end-of-life clinical advice and emotional support from trained Lindsey Lodge nurses for patients, families, and health professionals.
Working together, our community nursing and palliative care teams have integrated their services with the hospice to build on the Butterfly Line’s success. This partnership ensures a single point of access for patients, carers and healthcare professionals, reducing duplication and delays, and ensuring the right support is delivered by the right people at the right time.
Tracy Means, Nurse Director, Community, Frailty and Therapies Care Group at NLaG, said: “Caring for someone with a life-limiting illness can be incredibly stressful. If a loved one’s symptoms change suddenly, it can feel frightening and isolating. Having a specialist nurse at the end of the phone, 24 hours a day, provides vital reassurance and guidance during what can be an overwhelming time.”
Before this integrated approach, patients and professionals often faced confusion over who to contact out-of-hours, with no single pathway and limited availability of specialist advice. The enhanced Butterfly Line service now offers timely, coordinated clinical advice, avoiding unnecessary ambulance callouts and A&E visits by ensuring concerns can be safely managed in the community.
Helen Turner, Director of Clinical Services at Lindsey Lodge Hospice, said: “We are proud to see how the Butterfly Line has evolved through this partnership. By joining forces with our colleagues in the community teams, we’ve created a streamlined, truly collaborative service that puts patients and families first.
“This joint approach ensures that patients receive care from professionals skilled in palliative and end of life care, no matter the time of day or night, helping people feel more supported and less alone at a critical time.”
The Palliative and End of Life Care Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in care provision across the UK. The ‘Partnership Working Across Health and Social Care Award’ category honours teams that demonstrate exceptional collaboration and integration across organisations, with lasting, measurable impact.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 27 June.