Generalist and Specialist Palliative Care

The professionals involved in providing palliative care fall into two distinct categories:

Generalists - those providing day-to-day care to patients and carers
Specialists - those who specialise in palliative care (for example; Consultants in Palliative Medicine and Community Nurse Specialists in Palliative Care)

Whilst many patients with advanced disease can be effectively managed by generalist services, a significant proportion experience a range of complex problems that can only be dealt with by specialist multidisciplinary palliative care teams such as our own at the Priscilla Bacon Centre. These teams are expert in providing interventions to respond to:

• Unresolved symptoms and complex psychosocial issues
• Complex end-of-life issues
• Complex bereavement issues - for the patient, their family, loved ones and carers