Delivering better care at end of life – The next steps

Title: Delivering better care at the end of life – The next steps

Source: The King’s Fund

Follow this link for abstract

Date: January 2010

Publication type: Report

In a nutshell: Many people are not getting the end-of-life care they need. This King’s Fund report makes recommendations to help give patients high-quality care at the end of their lives and meaningful choices about where they die.

Length of publication: 54p.

Some important notes: The full text document can be downloaded for free from the King’s Fund website.

Acknowledgement: King’s Fund

The Power of Partnership: Palliative Care in Dementia

Title: The Power of Partnership: Palliative Care in Dementia

Source: NCPC

Date of Publication: December 2009

Publication Type: Report

In a nutshell: This report examines the need for stronger partnerships between dementia care and palliative care services to bring about improved care for people with dementia at the end of life. It also makes recommendations as to what’s required from dementia care services and from palliative care services, and gives examples of partnerships already underway. Informed by the latest research and policy on palliative and dementia care, and written by experts from a range of clinical and policy backgrounds, it aims to encourage wider discussion on this complex but extremely important area of care.

Length of Publication:35p.

Some important notes: Contact your local health library for a copy of this publication. Follow link to find your local health library

Acknowledgements: NCPC; Alzheimer’s Society; for dementia

ACT welcomes key working plans for families with disabled children

Title: ACT welcomes key working plans for families with disabled children

Source: ACT

Follow this link for the news article

Date of publication: January 2010

Publication Type: News article

In a nutshell: ACT has welcomed the proposed new measures to support families with disabled children contained in the Government’s ‘Support for All – the Families and Relationships Green Paper’ published 20 January 2010. ACT Chief Executive, Lizzie Chambers said: “It is great to see the Government’s commitment to developing new ways of supporting families with disabled children. Nearly 24,000 children have a life-limiting condition which means they will not reach adulthood, and the families and carers who support them tell us that one of the greatest obstacles to receiving help is trying to communicate with the huge range of professionals who are involved in delivering care to their children. They need a named key worker to help them navigate; as well as advocate on their behalf.”

Some important notes: Follow this link to download a copy of the Support for all – the families and relationships green paper

Acknowledgements: Every Child Matters

Supportive Care Pathway in Birmingham

Title: Supportive Care Pathway in Birmingham

Source: National End of Life Care Programme

Follow this link for fulltext

Date: January 2010

Publication Type: Webpage

In a nutshell: The Pan Birmingham Cancer Network has developed a specially tailored end of life care pathway for all patients in acute hospitals, regardless of diagnosis. The pathway, which is called the Supportive Care Pathway (SCP), is currently being used on seven wards across Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital NHS Trust with 200 patients having been started on the pathway since January 2009. The trust is committed to extending its use to all its acute wards in due course.

Acknowledgements: Pan Birmingham Cancer Network

What ‘best practice’ could be in Palliative Care: an analysis of statements of practice and ethics expressed by the main Health Organizations

Title: What ‘best practice’ could be in Palliative Care: an analysis of statements of practice and ethics by the main Health Organizations

Source: BMC Palliative Care 2010.9:1

Follow this link for the abstract

Date: January 2010

Publication Type: Article

In a nutshell: In the absence of a general model for palliative care, an analysis was undertaken of official documents relating to palliative care by the most representative health organisations in 4 countries (Australia, UK, US and Canada). The documents were analysed through a framework of the components of end-of-life care derived from literature, which composed of 4 main ‘areas’ and 12 ‘sub-areas’. The article concludes that a general, integrated model was lacking in the documents. It could be argued that the lack of a fixed and coherent model is due to the unavoidable context issues in palliative care such as specific-cultural settings, patient-centred variables and family specificity which means staff have to contiuously adapt their model of caring to the specific needs and values of each patient rather than apply a fixed, comprehensive care model.

Publication Length: 21 Pages

Acknowledgements: BioMed Central

National Council for Palliative Care launches its End of Life Care Manifesto

Title:   National Council for Palliative Care launches its End of Life Care Manifesto

Source:  National Council for Palliative Care

Follow this link for press release.

Follow this link for the Manifesto.

Date of publication:  January 2010

Publication type: Press Release and Manifesto

In a nutshell:  As numbers of people dying in the United Kingdom are set to rise by 17% over the next 20 years the NCPC predicts a long-term crisis if services and staff training aren’t redesigned and improved.  The manifesto calls for 5 key actions:

1.   Full implementation of the EoLC Strategy 

2.   Strong political leadership and commitment.

3.   Implementation of comprehensive out-of-hours services.

4.  Training in palliative and end of life care to be core curriculum.

5.  Equip the population to discuss these issues.

Length of publication:  Press Release 3 pages. Manifesto 6 pages.

Palliative care partnerships

Title:  Palliative care partnerships

Source:  Nursing Management

Follow this link for fulltext. (NHS Athens password is required)

Date of publication:  October 2009

Publication type: Journal article.

In a nutshell:  Research undertaken jointly by the Commission for the Compact and Help the Hospices indicates that there are issues which need to be addressed if partnerships are to achieve excellence.  By using the ‘Compact’ which is a set of guidelines for partnership working for voluntary and public sector bodies, relationships between organisations can be enhanced with clear benefits for patients.

 The article focuses on six important themes which emerged from the study:

* Funding and contracting arrangements.

* Maintaining the independence of hospices.

* Expertise of practitioners.

* Need for proactive approaches to care.

* Role of volunteers.

* Importance of personal relationships.

Length of publication: 4 pages.

Principles of project management in palliative care

Title:  Principles of project management in palliative care

Source:  European Journal of Palliative Care 2009 16:4  p1199-201

Follow this link for abstract.

Date of publication: July 2009

Publication type: Journal article.

In a nutshell:  The authors consider the merits of applying ‘Prince 2’ project management methodology to the practice of palliative care.

Length of publication: 3 pages.

Some important notes: Please contact your local NHS Library for the full text of the article. Follow this link to find your local NHS Library.

Improving governance, knowledge management and teamwork in palliative care.

Title:  Improving governance, knowledge management and teamwork in palliative care.

Source: European Journal of Palliative Care 2009 16:4  p196-198.

Follow this link for abstract.

Date of publication: July 2009

Publication type: Journal article.

In a nutshell:  This article outlines how improved efficiency and better patient care in palliative care can be achieved if health organizations enhance the structures and processes in three key areas:-

• Governance
• knowledge management
• teamworking.

Length of publication: 3 page article.

Some important notes:  Please contact your local NHS Library for the full text of the article. Follow this link to find your local NHS Library.

Teaching family carers about home-based palliative care: final results from a group education program.

Title:  Teaching family carers about home-based palliative care: final results from a group education program.

Source:  Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, 2009 38:2 p.299-308.

Follow this link for abstract. 

Date of publication: August 2009

Publication type: Journal article.

In a nutshell:  Initial pilots have shown that group education programs to prepare family carers in their role of supporting a relative with advanced, noncurative cancer at home can be readily developed and are beneficial.  This article reviews a project which built on the pilot research and further examined the effectiveness of the program by evaluating the outcomes with a larger number of participants. 

The study demonstrated that a group education program was effective and went on to outline the implications for further research and practice.

Length of publication: 10 pages. 

Some important notes: “Please contact your local NHS Library for the full text of the article. Follow this link to find your local NHS Library

Consultation on the Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy for adults in Northern Ireland.

Title:  Consultation on the Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy for adults in Northern Ireland.

Source: Northern Ireland Executive Dept of Health, Social Services and Public Safety

Follow this link for the Public Consultation document in full text.

Follow this link for the Consultation Response questionnaire (pdf format).

Date of publication: December 2009

Publication type: News item.

In a nutshell:  The draft 5 year Strategy intends to ensure that everyone, from diagnosis to the advanced noncurative stage of disease, lives and dies well irrespective of their condition or care setting. It provides a vision and direction for service planning and delivery and considers current and predicted demographics, available intelligence and the results of existing consultation which have informed the implementation of other policy areas, Service Frameworks, and Priorities for Action Targets.  It also takes into account policy context from the wider UK and the Republic of Ireland.  Views are sought from all stakeholders by the deadline of 19.02.10.

Length of publication: The Public Consultation document is 95 pages, the Consultation Response questionnaire is 13 pages.

Acknowledgement: Omega, The National Association for End of Life Care