SPUR is a pioneering 24/7 urgent access service providing specialist hospice nursing care for clinical professionals, patients, and families facing palliative care crises in Birmingham and Solihull.
Specialist Palliative Urgent Response Team (SPUR)
How does it work?
The SPUR service will help patients to access specialist end of life and palliative care in their own homes, helping them to stay in familiar surroundings near to their loved ones.
It will take calls from members of the public and their families, as well as healthcare professionals, and will either offer advice, signpost to relevant services, or arrange a home visit within two hours.
This service is designed to address critical gaps that have been identified in specialist out-of-hours palliative and end of life care, particularly overnight, meaning people can be forced to use emergency and hospital services.
Benefits of the service
Helping people to access the care they need in the community will ensure patients receive timely palliative and end of life support, and reduce the strain on emergency services.
This will complement the hospice’s current Specialist Community
Palliative Care service, which provides support from 8am – 8pm. Outside of those hours, calls have previously been covered by a mixture of providers, which can lead to delays and unnecessary visits to A&E.
The intention is that, by providing a single point of contact, patients and their families will be able to receive the support they need more quickly.
Who is behind SPUR?
Macmillan Cancer Support has provided funding for the SPUR service, which will be run by Birmingham Hospice in partnership with Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board.
How to access support
To access the service and speak to a member of the specialist team, from 8am-10pm please contact HoBS (Hospices of Birmingham and Solihull) on 0121 809 1900. Overnight (10pm-8am), please use our dedicated hotline number 0300 555 1919 (select option 2).