Building a telepalliative care strategy in nursing homes: a qualitative study with mobile palliative care teams

Source: BMC Palliative Care (2021) 20:156

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Date of publication: October 2021

Publication type: Research Article

In a nutshell: The purpose of this research was to identify situations where the use of telemedicine could be used for palliative care patients in nursing homes and to find out how telemedicine could best be worked into the routine practice of mobile palliative care teams.

Length of publication: 9 pages

Marie Curie partners with care provider Hallmark for the first time to implement End of Life Care Strategy

Source: Marie Curie

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Date of publication: February 2021

Publication type: Press Release

In a nutshell: Marie Curie and Hallmark Care Homes have partnered together to provide an End of Life Care Strategy for the care group. Both will offer their own resources and tools for this unique partnership to improve end of life care for older people.

Length of publication: 1 page

What do we know now that we didn’t know a year ago? New intelligence on end of life care in England

Source: National End of Life Care Programme

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Date of publication:  May 2012

Publication type:  Report

In a nutshell: This report highlights the progress made in the implementation of the Department of Health’s End of Life Care Strategy and identifies the successes of the programme as well as those areas that need improvement. The report consists of 16 categories including:

• place of care and death
• latest trends in different settings
• disease types
• costs
• quality of care
• workforce and public attitudes

Examples of areas for improvement highlighted by the report include unplanned emergency care and advance care planning with a view to improve the experience of patients and their families but also to deliver more cost-effective care.

Length of publication: 28 pages

Understanding the cost of end of life care in different settings

Source: Marie Curie  

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Date of publication: February 2012

Publication type: Report

In a nutshell: This report from Marie Curie’s considers the economic impact of providing care to patients in the community, rather than in the acute setting and presents a clear argument for the development of high-quality community-based care.  Marie Curie estimate:

• community care at the end of life costs £145 per day
• specialist palliative in-patient care costs £425 per day
• changing the setting of care could reduce daily costs by £280.
• between 355,000 and 457,000 patients need palliative care annually.
• If community services were developed to enable just 30,000 patients to reduce their hospital stay by just four days, there could be a saving of £34 million.

Length of publication: 8 pages

End-of-life care pathways as tools to promote and support a good death: a critical commentary

Source:  European Journal of Cancer Care

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Date of publication: January 2012

Publication type: article

In a nutshell:  This paper challenges whether end-of-life care (EoLC) pathways facilitate the accomplishment of a ‘good death’. EoLC pathways are widely recommended as ‘best practice’. However there are concerns about the efficacy of care pathways with regard to their impact on patient care.  Further examination of two EoLC pathways reveals how biomedical aspects of care are privileged. Despite this evidence indicates EoLC pathways may facilitate a particular type of ‘good death’, especially one associated with the dying process and framed within biomedicine.

Length of publication: 11 pages

Acknowledgement: BNI

An electronic resource to support staff providing end of life care

Source: Nursing Standard, November 2011, 26, (12), p.41-46

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Date of publication: November 2011

Publication type: Article

In a nutshell: The End of Life Care Strategy challenges care providers to develop effective care in all settings.  Each care setting faces different challenges. One acute NHS trust decided to focus on the specific challenges of identifying and diagnosing dying patients in order to provide appropriate palliative care. They developed an electronic resource tool to aid prognostication and provide a single point of reference to help practitioners to improve end of life care for patients in the hospital setting.  This article reports on the results of a six-month pilot.

Length of publication: 6 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.

Issues facing commissioners of end-of-life care

Source: The King’s Fund

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Date of publication: September 2011

Publication type: Report

In a nutshell:  End-of-life care services are typically funded and delivered by a range of organisations including the NHS,  local government, the voluntary sector and independent agencies, charities and through informal or formal donations. This growing complexity coupled with demands on end-of-life care services means that commissioning services is challenging.  This document addresses the current complex arrangements around EoLC funding and highlights barriers as well as the opportunities commissioning offers.

Some of the issues that make end-of-life care important for commissioners include:

• demographic changes =  an increase in the number of deaths and also increases in the number of people living with complex and co-existing  diseases
• government’s end-of-life care strategy clearly emphasises that eolc is a local commissioning priority
• several monitoring and incentive programmes are aimed at improving the quality of care.

Length of publication: 24 pages

Acknowledgement: The King’s Fund

Achieving the preferred place of care for hospitalized patients at the end of life

Source: Palliative Medicine June 2011 v.25(4) p333-336

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Date: June 2011

Publication type: Article

Publication length: 4 pages

In a nutshell: The Department of Health end-of-life strategy contains a number of quality markers which include taking into account patients’ wishes for their final place of care. An audit was conducted on discussion of preferred place of care (PPC) for all patients referred to the hospital palliative care team who died during the audit period. The data highlighted the need to distinguish between preferred place of care and preferred place of death. Patients’ wishes regarding PPC change as death approaches. A greater number of patients wished to die in hospital than was expected.

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

Quality Markers and Measures for Bereavement; Consultation

Source:  Department of Health

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Date of publication: March 2011

Publication type: Consultation

In a nutshell:  Quality markers and measures for end of life care were published in 2009 to help providers and commissioners implement the End of Life Care Strategy (2008).  In the orginal document however, there were no quality markers specifically for bereavement care or spiritual support for EoLC for patients.  To remedy this the Stategic Health Authority End of Life Care Pathway Chairs requested that markers be drafted to cover those particular areas.   This work is now complete and ready for the consultation phase.

Length of publication:  15 pages

Acknowledgement: National End of Life Care Programme

Talking about End of Life Care: right conversations, right people, right time.

Source:  National End of Life Care Programme

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Date of publication: February 2011

Publication type:  Report

In a nutshell:  This is the final report from the communication skills pilot project which considered communication skills of NHS staff working with patients at the end of life.  Communication skills training need, provision, strategy and sustainability were assessed at 12 sites .  Training needs analysis and existing provision reviewed and benchmarked against national competences and new training plans were then developed.   This report highlights the project’s findings, identifies key messages about why it’s necessary to improve communication skills and makes recommendations about how to proceed.

Length of publication: 35 pages

National End of Life Care Programme Newsletter (Issue 29)

Source: National End of Life Care Programme

Follow this link to download the latest newsletter

Date of publication: January 2011

Publication type: Newsletter

In a nutshell: This issue of the newsletter focuses on commissioning and provides a Rough Guide to Commissioning End of Life Care along with information about the proposed content of a new guide for GP Consortia which is currently being drafted by the National Council for Palliative Care, the National End of Life Care Programme and key partners.

 Length of publication: 12 pages

NCPC and Help the Hospices Funding Survey 2010

Source: National Council for Palliative Care

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Date of publication: December 2010

Publication type: Report

In a nutshell: In October 2010, NCPC and Help the Hospices surveyed adult palliative care providers to see what their current funding situation was and how much the wider financial climate was impacting on them.

In 2010/11, £150M of revenue funding is due to be distributed to support the implementation of the End of Life Care Strategy (England). Despite this, the survey found:

• A third of all respondents were aware of care staff cuts in local palliative and end of life care services.
• Nearly 30% of hospices (voluntary sector and NHS) have already had their statutory funding cut in the current year.
• 30% of all respondents anticipate a decrease in their statutory funding in 2011/12.

Length of publication: 4 pages

Acknowledgement: National Council for Palliative Care

2010 Annual Evidence Update on End of Life Care

Source: NHS Evidence

Follow this link to view the update in full.

Date of publication: November 2010

Publication type: Annual Evidence Update

In a nutshell:  This year’s Annual Evidence Update (AEU) produced by the commissioning and innovation and improvement specialist collections is on end of life care. The AEU aims to bring together the latest knowledge and evidence about contemporary aspects of end of life care. Patient experience, measurement, pathways and access to services are all covered.

Some important notes: To get full access to the resource you will need an NHS Athens account. Please click here to register for an account. If you need further help please  click here to contact your local NHS library.

Ageing Population requires new approaches to end of life care

Source: National End of Life Care Intelligence Network

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Date of publication: November 2010

Publication type: News item

In a nutshell:   A new report entitled  Deaths in Older Adults in England compiled by the South West Public Health Observatory and produced by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network (NEoLCIN) analyses the numbers of deaths in people aged over 75, broken down into five-year age bands up to the over 90s and provides data on the location and cause of death. The data shows that there will be a significant increase in numbers of people needing end of life care during the course of the next 30 years. 

Length of publication: 3 pages