Welcome to St Christopher’s
A useful introduction to the services we can offer you and your loved ones
To welcome you to St Christopher’s we’ve created this booklet which we hope serves as a useful introduction to the services we can offer you and your loved ones.
We also hope it will give you confidence and reassurance about what to expect while you are being supported by St Christopher’s.
We appreciate this can be a difficult and overwhelming time for you, your family and friends, so we will do all we can to make sure you feel comfortable and supported.
We have now launched an Easy Read version of this booklet which can be downloaded here or viewed online
As a specialist palliative care service, providing advice 24/7, we work closely alongside your GP, hospital team and other NHS services. We do not replace these services but we can offer advice and support to them to help them to support you.
Sometimes we ask other healthcare professionals to visit you and provide care following our advice. It is likely that we will refer you back to them if we advise a change in medication, dressings or other healthcare needs.
Our services are offered from two sites, in Sydenham and Orpington. Both have been designed around your needs so you can access the services you need easily. If you are visiting our sites, please bring any medication with you and feel free to discuss any issues you may have with a member of the team. Some people like to write down questions they may have before they come in.
After you have been referred to St Christopher’s we will call you and arrange a time for an initial meeting. When we meet we will discuss what is important to you and your family, and how we can help. All our care and support is tailored to you as an individual. That’s why you might receive support at home, come in for an appointment, have a video call or stay at the hospice.
We have a whole range of staff and volunteers to support you as needed – these may include nurses, therapists, doctors and social workers. All staff will wear a name badge with their role on it, and we have different uniforms for some of our staff.
In order to ensure we support everyone we need to, when appropriate there may be times when we do not need to arrange further follow up with you. However, you can call our single point of contact assessment team 24/7 if you feel you need our support again and your records always remain on our system.
We want you to take your time when you visit and go at your own pace. We have cafés on both sites, selling hot and cold drinks, snacks and meals, and there will always be someone to talk to if you want to. You can access more information about our services on our website.
