Private palliative care - desperate for help

Hello,

New to the forum. Mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in March and navigating the 'system' has been a nightmare ever since. Very little support from GP, frequent visits to A&E followed by discharge, followed by another visit in what seems like an endless loop.

Mom is nearly 80 and was scheduled to start Chemo, but has been passing out several times a day, has a serious food aversion and is now hardly eating at all, is nauseous all the time and recently passed out, severely injured her head and went through another A&E visit that resulted in discharge but no resolution to the passing out and inability to eat issues. Paliative care nurses have visited her hom, but have no answers. She has been referred to a Hospice to help deal with this current issue, but they have no beds and a long waiting list.

My Dad, even with our support cannot cope with this at 80 and Mom needs professional care, but not in A&E or an 'assessment ward'. At this point I'm happy to pay for palliative care to at least get her help with pain and nutrition so she can hopefully still have chemo.

What I can't determine is the best place to seek private in-hospital care and the approximate costs. I'll seel my house if I need to.

Does anyone have any experience with private care?

  • Hi DStall,

    Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry to hear of the situation with your Mom. Typically it would be best to discuss this with your Mom's specialist, if you get the opportunity to do so.

    You are also welcome to give our nurses a call if you'd like to talk things through with them. You can reach them on freephone 0808 800 4040 - Monday-Friday, 9-5.

    Otherwise, hopefully you'll get some more replies here soon.

    Wishing you all the best,

    Ben
    Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Im sorry to hear of your situation its never easy i looked after my dad through the nights at home but any pain was delt with by district nurses one call and the would be there for his pain releif a great service .He did have hospice care for a week just for some respite. And in the last days he went into an end of life room in a private nursing home but we could still stay with him night and day. Hope this helps in some way it was hard but manageable.

  • Hi , I would contact the district nurses to see what input they can offer , your Gp can prescribe high protein drinks/ soups and / or refer to a dietician . I hope you get some help x