We provide inpatient and outpatient care for patients requiring advance kidney care. Working closely with our renal ward to continually improve treatments and outcomes for patients whilst providing a great patient experience.

We provide dialysis on ITU, CCU and MECU. C1b have dialysis trained nurses who can dialyse at the bedside on the renal ward.

Patients wishing to have an active part in their care a Shared Care Programme allows patients to actively participate in elements of their care, this has shown to have excellent health outcomes for patients.

We offer home therapies that support patients to live an active and fulfilled life. For patients who do not wish to carry out their treatment at home we have 2 satellite units in Kidderminster and Tipton.

We have our own on-site theatre where we can carry out renal biopsies and dialysis access insertion.

We also provide a plasmapheresis across the trust and offer a 24-hour service 7 days a week 365 days a year.

We also have a dedicated renal dietetic team who provide all patients under our care a tailored service to manage their nutritional needs.

Our Peritoneal dialysis unit provides training and support for patients who are receiving, or who will be starting, Chronic Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD). The CAPD unit also takes care of patients with Advanced kidney Disease who have not yet started treatment, and they are supported by our Living donor and transplant nurse specialists and our vascular access nurse.

Welcome to The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust’s Palliative Care and End of Life webpage.

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust is committed to maintaining the best quality of life for its patients who are experiencing life-limiting conditions.

The vision for Dudley

All people with palliative and end of life care needs, irrespective of their diagnosis, together with those closest to them, are able to express their needs and wishes; and that as far as clinically appropriate and practically possible, these needs and wishes are met.

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is the active holistic care of patients with advanced progressive illness.

The management of pain and other symptoms and provision of psychological, social and spiritual support is paramount.

The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best quality of life for patients and those important to them.

Palliative Care in Dudley

High quality Palliative Care should be delivered by all health care professionals. The aim is that all staff caring for people with life limiting illness whether in hospital, at home, or in a care home, should be able to provide a ‘core level’ of care i.e. they should be able to provide less complex care well.

When the usual care team needs support or advice on more complex symptoms for a particular patient, then that patient can be referred to the Specialist Palliative Care Team – who provide what is called ‘Specialist level’ advice on the management of pain, or other symptoms whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual.

Gold Standards Framework at Russells Hall Hospital

Russells Hall Hospital has implemented the ‘Gold Standards Framework’ (GSF). The aim of the GSF is to provide ‘The right care for the right patient in the right place at the right time’

The GSF is a systematic, evidence based approach to optimise care for all patients approaching the end of life, delivered by all care staff actually seeing patients with life limiting illness.

For more information on the GSF, click here to watch a brief video about it!

For GSF patient information leaflet click here

Gold Standards Framework in Acute Hospitals in a nutshell

Palliative Care Champions

In the community, and in the hospital, there are ‘Palliative Care Champions’. These are nurses who have taken on additional competencies for palliative care. They have an interest and focus on caring for palliative care patients alongside their usual role. They link with their hospital or community or care home teams to help promote high quality practice, advocate for palliative care patients, and to cascade education out to colleagues.

The role of the Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT)

The SPCT offers expert holistic assessment of patients and those important to them. They then give advice, treatment and support on a range of symptoms and conditions.

The SPCT works collaboratively with other health and social care professionals to ensure that there is excellent holistic care. They do not ‘take over’ the care of patients, but rather provide care alongside the usual care teams.

Palliative Care Education

The SPCT provides support through delivery of education in Dudley which is mainly focused on trying to prepare staff at all levels (whether a doctor or a health care assistant or other role) to provide high quality ‘core level’ care.

Rheumatology is the branch of medicine that looks after rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. These diseases are usually caused by problems in the immune system, inflammation, infections, or the gradual deterioration of joints, muscles and bones. The service covers the full range of adult rheumatological conditions, from osteoarthritis and soft tissue rheumatism to inflammatory arthritis and complex systemic disorders, such as connective tissue diseases and vasculitis. Osteoporosis assessment by a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan and an osteoporosis clinic are also part of our service and are held at Corbett Outpatient Centre. We hold routine clinics, specialty clinics and combined clinics with medical colleagues (chest physicians, renal physicians and dermatologists) and surgical colleagues (orthopaedic and ENT surgeons and ophthalmologists).

How to access the service

Outpatient services are provided on three of our Trust’s sites (Russells Hall Hospital, Corbett Outpatient Centre and Guest Outpatient Centre) with day case facilities and services provided at Russells Hall Hospital. The service is multidisciplinary with dedicated physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropody, orthotic and psychology sessions, supporting the medical and specialist nursing teams.

The rheumatology team aims to work closely with the community and primary care settings to provide shared care for chronic arthritic patients. Patients need to be referred to us via their GP, who must use the e-Referral Service. Referrals are triaged daily into urgent, suspected inflammatory arthritis or routine appointments.

We are delighted to provide an Advice and Guidance service to GPs. If a patient is already under the follow up care of a consultant rheumatologist, please contact that consultants’ secretary, if you need to get in touch.

The Oak Clinic is a friendly, comprehensive service that provides world class care, advice and information for those living with HIV.

We provide a confidential, non-judgemental service focusing on ‘person-centred’ care, integrating and co-ordinating diverse elements of a person’s healthcare needs with a clear focus to maintain good health .

Our service is open-access, which means you do not need to be referred to the clinic by a GP or other healthcare professional.

No information will be shared about you without your explicit consent.

Services include: 

Morning and afternoon clinics, a mix of both face to face and telephone consultations provided by specialist consultants and experienced specialist nurses.

Monday evening Nurse led clinics

Emergency walk-in appointments

Phlebotomy only clinics

Medication and Adherence

Referral pathways and links to other hospital specialties
accessed by the patient

Other services include:

Lifestyle and Wellbeing Clinics

We are committed to supporting Clinical Governance, Evidence Based Healthcare, Research, Leadership and Management programmes and Continuing Education to all employees of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and to students on placement within the Trust.

We achieve this by offering the following services:

• Access to books Health Libraries Midlands (HeLM)
• Interlibrary loans
• Access to NHS OpenAthens
• Literature searching
• 24/7 swipe access to facilities – quiet study areas, PCs, book loans using the ‘self serve’ kiosk and reference access to journals, with Trust ID badge.

For more information about any of the services we offer, please call (01384) 321077/8 or email us.

Opening times

The library is staffed during the following hours:

• Monday to Friday – 08:30-16:30

PCs and a study area are open to staff with a Trust ID card 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

OpenAthens

• Self registration
  To access online resources you need to register for an Athens user-name and password.
• Log-in
  If you already have a password you can log-on and search from here.

The Clinical Education Centre provides the infrastructure, support and guidance to deliver high-quality education and training to health professionals at The Dudley Group.

The department is responsible for coordinating all postgraduate medical training programmes, including the management of the foundation programme, the Internal Medicine Training (IMT) programme, and various specialty programmes. We also support and host regional teaching days and offer specialist clinical skills and simulation events.

Each specialty has a dedicated educational lead or college tutor who provides support and guidance to trainees. This lead also provides a link into the relevant postgraduate specialty school.

Doctors in training from F1 to ST8 are supported both clinically and administratively by a range of staff within the department. We host local teaching programmes and regularly contribute to regional training programmes in a variety of specialities.

The Cardiology department provides all cardiac related diagnostic tests which includes Invasive and non-invasive procedures ranging from Blood Pressure and ambulatory heart monitoring, Catheter Lab investigation’s, Echocardiography and Pacemaker Services. Routine 12 lead ECG  to every one who needs it, from neonatal to the elderly.

The department covers  Inpatients and Outpatients at Russells Hall Hospital.

The department is made up of 41 members of staff ranging from consultants, cardiographers, physiologists, associate practitioners, students and clerical officers

The Physiotherapy department provides care to patients across Dudley with help managing a musculoskeletal condition such as osteoarthritis, back pain, injuries sustained after an accident, work related conditions & sporting injuries as well as post operative care

We encourage patients to take an active role in their recovery that can help return to work and your normal everyday activities.

The service’s aim is to ensure that anyone with a musculoskeletal complaint can access the right clinician at the earliest point in their journey and is then subsequently supported within the service in a timely manner.  The service prides itself on embracing innovative practice to deliver high quality care within an environment that is accessible for individual patient needs.

Inpatient and Outpatient Services

Here at The Dudley Group we offer both inpatient and outpatient facilities.

Inpatient services

Inpatient physiotherapy services aims to restore function and promote independence, while maintaining your dignity and privacy. This may include getting you mobile again, giving you an exercise programme to increase your strength or practising getting up and down the stairs. This is all aimed at getting you home as fit as possible.

Your participation in therapy is essential to gain maximum function and you will have the opportunity to agree a treatment plan with your therapists in order to achieve your goals.

Outpatient services

Our outpatient service provides assessment and management of patients with a variety of conditions including:

• Musculoskeletal
• Respiratory medicine
• Women’s health
• Vestibular rehabilitation
• Amputee rehabilitation

Your appointment

Once we have received a referral from your GP/consultant, you will be contacted via letter. It is your responsibility to organise your first appointment.  If you are unable to make your appointment, please contact the department as soon as possible so we can rearrange and offer it to someone else.

If you do not attend your initial or follow up appointments, you must contact the department within 28 days to reschedule or you will be discharged from this service.

If you have any specific requirements with regards to interpreter, gender preference or chaperone, please notify the team when booking your appointment.

Treatment options 

Exercise Therapy – Including individualized home-based exercises to improve your muscle strength, increase your joint range of movement, and improve balance and general fitness

Open Gym Classes – we have a gym space to allow you to use more specialised equipment that you may not have at home to help progress your rehabilitation guided by our team of physiotherapists

Joint Health Programme– Group exercise class to enable long term self-management of hip and Knee Osteoarthritis

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, known as PALS, helps the NHS listen to patients, their relatives, carers and friends. We aim to answer questions and resolve concerns as quickly as possible.

We know it can be a worrying and confusing time when you or someone you know is unwell. If you have concerns about your care, you can speak to any member of staff caring for you. However, if they cannot help you or you do not feel comfortable talking to them, you can contact the PALS team.

PALS can:

• Provide you with information about the hospital or the NHS and help you with any other health-related enquiry
• Help resolve concerns or problems
• Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help if you decide you may want to make a complaint
• Inform you about how you can get more involved in your own healthcare and the NHS locally

You do not have to pay for any prescriptions or medication you receive while you are an inpatient.

Outpatient prescriptions are subject to the same charges as those you would receive from your GP. Click here for up-to-date information about how much you will pay for your prescription and to find out if you eligible for free prescriptions.

Dudley Formulary

Where can you find us?

Russells Hall Hospital

Monday to Friday                            9am – 7pm

Weekends and bank holidays     9.30am – 5pm

Corbett Outpatient Centre

Monday to Friday                            9am – 1:15pm    2pm – 5pm

Weekends and bank holidays     Closed

Guest Outpatient Centre

Monday to Friday                            9am – 1:15pm    2pm – 5pm

Weekends and bank holidays     Closed