In 2008, the Government launched The End of life care strategy – promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life.
This is the first time there has been a concerted national strategy to underpin the end of life care services provided by organisations across England.
St Peter & St James Hospice is committed to support both national and local end of life care initiatives and provide high quality end of life care across the region we cover.
Identifying people approaching the end of life
We work closely with primary care teams and other potential referrers to try to identify those patients who might be entering the final year of life so that they can access the appropriate support and palliative care services.
We support the Gold Standards Framework and our Community Team works closely with GPs and primary care teams to develop a register of eligible patients, attending regular meetings at participating healthcare centres. We also support healthcare teams in developing their skills at identifying patients at the end of life and communicating these issues to their patients.
Advance care planning
The End of Life Care Strategy has highlighted that too many people do not die in their preferred place of choice and has challenged healthcare providers to put measures in place to improve this:
“All people approaching the end of life should have their needs assessed, their wishes and preferences discussed and an agreed set of actions reflecting the choices they make about their care recorded in a care plan. In some cases people may want to make an advance decision to refuse treatment, should they lack capacity to make such a decision in the future. Others may want to set out more general wishes and preferences about how they are cared for and where they would wish to die. These should all be incorporated into the care plan. The care plan should be subject to review by the multidisciplinary team, the patient and carers as and when a person’s condition, or wishes, change. For greater effectiveness, the care plan should be available to all who have a legitimate reason to access it (e.g. out of hours and emergency services).”
Advance care planning gives patients the opportunity to consider and record their plans, wishes and preferences for their future care. There are options as to which document a patient might wish to use. Below are some useful resources:
- Planning Ahead – A resource for patients and their carers
- Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment – National End of Life Care Programme guide