Pallium India has launched a FREE national telehealth helpline for palliative care consultation. Patients and families from anywhere in India can call this telehealth helpline. Health care professionals who need advice on palliative care or pain management can call this number. Read on to find out more about the service and how patients and healthcare professionals can get help from this service.
About the Telehealth Service
Are there specific medical conditions or specialties that are covered by this service?
Our Palliative Care Telehealth Helpline focuses on providing support for a range of conditions requiring palliative care, any serious health related suffering including cancer and other chronic illnesses.
The palliative care telehealth service is available in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil. And is open from Monday to Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4pm
Call: +91 964 588 4889 / +91 860 688 4889
In case of queries, please write to: info@palliumindia.org
Related Reference : Palliative Care Directory of Clinics and Services in India
What are the qualifications of the staff?
The staff comprises of trained palliative care doctors, nurses, social work officers, and psychologists. They are typically certified in palliative care, with extensive experience in managing patients with serious illnesses.
How are the staff trained? How are they debriefed? Do they have a database of concepts and answers and a defined flowchart for typical questions?
Staff undergo structured training in palliative care which is provided by Pallium India’s Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences, WHO Collaborating Centre for Training and Policy on Access to Pain relief. Regular debriefing sessions are conducted through emails, team meetings and supervision sessions. All the issues raised may not have a flowchart but some do.
Do you have different levels of staff/ connected internal experts on the helpline and do the staff escalate / redirect a caller to someone else in the helpline if the question is more specialized?
Yes, our telehealth team comprises of doctors, nurses, social officers, psychologists, and other experts on call. For interstate needs, we have a state facilitation team. If the question is beyond the expertise of the initial responder, the call is escalated to a more specialized team member, and we call back the patient with the necessary information or assistance.
How many calls do you get per day? Are they mostly to get help from you or to find out about doctors and hospitals that can help them?
The number of calls varies but typically ranges from 10 to 20 per day. Most calls are from individuals seeking advice on managing symptoms, managing home care routines, understanding palliative care, and getting emotional support. Additionally, callers often inquire about local palliative care providers, services, and resources, as well as guidance on making informed medical and end-of-life decisions, and navigating the healthcare system for better support. Healthcare providers also call for assistance with patient management, case-specific advice, and access to specialized palliative care resources.
What kind of data about the caller is collected? Do you treat the data from or about patients? Is it confidential? How is privacy ensured? Can the same person contact multiple times, and is/ how is continuity maintained of what is asked/ told etc?
Data collected includes the caller's name, contact information, medical history, psychosocial history and details of the inquiry. All data is treated with strict confidentiality, ensuring privacy through secure data storage and adherence to data protection policies. Callers can reach out multiple times, and continuity of care is maintained through detailed call logs and case notes. This information is accessible to all our healthcare staff through hospital management system for ensuring seamless and consistent care across all interactions.
Do you find out if the caller is a layperson or a healthcare professional? How do you verify this? Do you use different protocols and flowcharts and trained staff for whether the caller is a layperson or a healthcare professional?
Yes, we try to determine if the caller is a layperson or a healthcare professional through interactions and open-ended questions. However, we do not have different protocols, flowcharts, or specialized trained staff specifically for laypersons or healthcare professionals. Our team is equipped to deliver tailored information to callers according to their level of understanding.
For questions from laypersons:
What sort of questions queries does the helpline help with? Can people discuss a case with you and get related suggestions, or do you direct people to experts?
Our Telehealth helpline assists with a wide variety of questions and queries, including but not limited to medical and symptom management, understanding palliative care, practical care-giving guidance, referrals to resources and local services, assistance with end-of-life decisions and advanced care planning, and ongoing family support and communication, along with follow-up support.
People can discuss their cases, and the helpline provides relevant suggestions (*after discussing with experts if required) or directs them to experts if necessary.
What happens when a person calls for the first time? What is the registration process?
When you call the telehealth consultation number, it will ask you to give some information like your name, telephone number and the reason for calling which is recorded in the system. After a few seconds the call will get disconnected. A member of the telehealth team shall contact the caller as soon as possible during the working time. They will enquire more about the reason for calling and if required the patient will be registered.The caller need to provide the required information to complete the registration process"
Often people don’t understand what palliative care is. They may not have heard of it, or either think of it or confuse it with end of life, or with bedridden care. How does the helpline work with what the caller may be understanding about palliative care?
Our helpline clarifies misconceptions about palliative care by explaining its scope, which includes not just end-of-life care but also pain and symptom management at any stage of a serious health related suffering.
What sort of suggestions can a caller expect?
Suggestions include symptom management techniques, medication advice, emotional support strategies, referrals to local resources, care-giving guidance, advice with end-of-life decisions, follow-up support.
Do you give any prescriptions – supportive care or pain management?
The helpline provides advice for personalized management along with prescriptions for OTC medicines as per NMC guidelines on Telehealth Gridlines. Also guides callers on what to discuss with their ongoing healthcare providers.
Do you give advice on diet and daily routine, home care aspects etc.?
Yes, advice on diet, daily routines, and individualized home care plan is provided to help manage symptoms and improve quality of life.
Do you give advice on aspects like tube feeding and other end-of-life decisions?
Yes, the helpline provides guidance on tube feeding and making informed end-of-life decisions.
Do you direct them to resources on the internet? Or local resources for severe levels of pain?
Yes, callers are directed local services as appropriate to the situation and rarely to credible online resources.
Can you help families understand and triage in situations that are urgent?
There are limitations to make online diagnosis of an urgent situation and triage the patients. So the consultation provided for this matter would serve as a guideline to make an informed decision for the patient and family and this cannot replace consulting a doctor at the hospital.
What basic information should families have at hand to get the most of a teleconsultation?
If a patient is already registered with us -they should have the patient’s MR Number, along with medical history, current medications, symptoms, and mainly any recent changes in condition ready for the teleconsultation.
How medically well-informed do callers need to be?
Callers do not need to be medically well-informed; our helpline provides information in an accessible manner.
How long can a call extend to?
Call duration depends on the complexity of the inquiry. Sometime some enquiries are general and take less than 5 minutes. But if a patient has complex symptom requiring nursing, doctor and social officers input, it might take upto 30 - 60 minutes.
Do you do group calls (where multiple family members listening are in)?
These types of requests are rare but we can do such calls if it is necessary for the patients and family members.
How do you help/ counsel depressed callers trying to cope with extreme situations with loved ones?
Our helpline provides emotional support, active listening, and coping strategies. If needed, callers are referred to psychologists or other mental health professionals as required.
For questions from healthcare professionals
In which situations can healthcare professionals consult you? What sort of questions do you take from healthcare professionals / health care workers?
Healthcare professionals can consult the helpline for a range of needs, including case-specific advice, strategies for managing symptoms, and guidance on best practices in palliative care.Our helpline addresses inquiries spanning from medication advice and symptom management to care planning and ethical considerations in palliative care. This comprehensive support ensures that healthcare workers receive tailored guidance to enhance patient care and management in palliative settings.
What type of healthcare workers do you support, and how? Do you give case-specific advice or generic advice or redirect them to senior professionals?
Our helpline supports doctors, nurses, and all allied health professionals by providing case-specific advice, educational resources, and referrals.
Both case-specific and generic advice are provided. Complex cases may be redirected to senior professionals for detailed consultation.
Your input may be used by healthcare professionals to guide families. How do you ensure your advice is used effectively and not misunderstood or used out of context?
Advice is given clearly and documented carefully. Follow-up calls and relevant written information are provided to ensure proper understanding according to the context.
For pain management, many drugs that may be useful are controlled drugs. How do you advise and direct the caller to help them manage their patient?
We usually direct them to nearest local palliative care and pain management centres where they need to meet the doctor for complete assessment before prescribing controlled medications. Our website (www.palliumindia.org ) provides the directory of pain and palliative care services across India.
If patients are home-based and not in a facility licensed for the controlled painkillers, what sort of advice do you give?
Advice includes non-pharmacological pain management techniques, over-the-counter options, and referral to nearest centres where homecare is provided to patients.
Will this helpline provide me information/details about service providers or other palliative services?
Yes, the helpline provides information about local palliative care providers and other relevant services.
Will my/patient’s confidentiality be maintained? What data will be collected/how will it be shared?
Confidentiality is strictly maintained. We collect necessary data, including contact information and pertinent details such as psycho-social history, solely for addressing the inquiry. We do not share the personal identity with anybody except those involved in the care of the patient.
