Improving end of life care in the community
21 Dec 2016
Understanding the provision of end of life care in the community was the main topic at the third RM Partners’ Palliative Care Stakeholder event on 15 December 2016.
Elaine Tolliday and Sarah Myford from Keech Hospice, and Niki Davies, Jo Archer, and Inderia Tipping from St Luke’s Hospice spoke about the single point of access services available through their organisations. This prompted a lively discussion about how these services could be implemented in other organisations also providing end of life care.
Attendees then broke into groups for a workshop that focused on three key questions:
- What are the core or essential components of end of life provision in the community?
- What does ‘good’ look like in comparison?
- How would we make this happen and what would help/hinder this process?
Feedback from the groups identified some key themes:
- IT interoperability needs to be improved
- Community nursing and resourcing/training is challenging for community providers
- Access to medication/equipment for patients and professionals can sometimes prove difficult
The event closed with a presentation by Zoe Byrne on the ward student volunteer programmes being run at Princess Alice Hospice in Esher. She emphasised how young ward student volunteers can often bring a whole new dynamic to the hospice setting.