Milton resident Kay White, who represents Milton Surgery’s Patient Participation Group at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, would like to share some information about a new service from the NHS that provides out of hours end-of-life palliative care via NHS 111 option 3, which is now live:

“Callers to NHS 111 option 3 are directed to a Palliative Care Clinical Nurse, not a generalist, so specific advice may be given.

The service currently is available in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough from 17:30 to 09:30 weekdays and 24 hours over the weekends.

This out of hours, free-of-charge availability for end of life care is the first for our region as many other regions in UK have had out of hours coverage though perhaps via fee-based services.

This new NHS 111 option 3 could mean a great deal to those families and individuals needing end of life care, particularly if they want to stay at home and need advice out of hours. Eventually the service is envisioned to be 24/7.

You can find more details on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group’s website:

www.cambridgeshireandpeterboroughccg.nhs.uk/your-health-and-services/palliative-care-hub/“