The Advance Care Planning page has been revised and expanded to include the following sections:
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has added a range of guidance materials and links to further support implementation of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) to their website. Find out what already works and what might work in the future. And also, given the potential of the MCA to touch the lives of millions - particularly those who live with learning disability, dementia or mental health problems and those working and caring for them - the resource provides the opportunity to link related policy areas together. Examples include the development of the National Dementia Strategy and SCIE's practice development work on restraint, available in late summer 2009.
The 2009 Health and Social Care Awards were launched on 10 December and the search is now on to find the best health and social care teams in England. Now in their eighth year, the awards are designed to celebrate excellence and innovation, and share ideas that improve the lives of patients, service users, carers and staff.
The awards are open to anyone working throughout the NHS, social services, the voluntary, charity and independent sectors in England, and are a fantastic way to showcase your project and reward your team.
The regional award scheme is run in partnership between the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, the Department of Health and the 10 Strategic Health Authorities.
National winners will be announced at a high profile ceremony in London presided over by the Secretary of State for Health on 8 July 2009.
Full details of all awards categories and how to apply are available on www.healthandsocialcareawards.org.uk. The deadline for entries is midnight on 6 March 2009.
The GMC is consulting on a new edition of Tomorrow's Doctors from 15 December 2008 to 27 March 2009. You are invited to respond to this consultation and to attend a conference on 2 March 2009 to discuss the proposals.
Further information is available in Consultations under "Tomorrow's Doctors".
To participate in the consultation, please visit www.gmc-uk.org/tomorrowsdoctors.
This Parliamentary briefing provides the Public Accounts Committee with a perspective from the English charitable hospice sector on the current funding and commissioning challenges facing hospice care that we hope will be addressed through the implementation of the Government’s End of Life Care Strategy.
The Department of Health has published a report on the NHS Next stage review in relation to the third sector. NHS Next stage review: what it means for the third sector includes a summary of the Next Stage Review and how the third sector can be involved in local planning and service delivery.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) - Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Programme has announced calls for proposals in three research areas:
The SDO Programme improves health outcomes for people by: commissioning research and producing research evidence that improves practice in relation to the organisation and delivery of health care; and building capacity to carry out research amongst those who manage, organise and deliver services and to improve their understanding of research literature and how to use research evidence.
Further information is available in Calls for proposals.
Information for commissioning end of life care will support the commissioning of a whole-systems approach to end of life care and is intended for Primary Care Trusts (PCT's), practice based commissioners, mental health service commissioners, older people service commissioners and long term condition service commissioners.
It has been provided by the National End of Life Care Programme team in conjunction with he Department of Health, commissioning work group, the end of life care service specification working group and individual commissioners in producing this information for commissioning end of life care services and focuses on delivery of a high quality, individualised service to meet the physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs of all people in their end of life phase and their carers.
Subtitled "High Quality Care for All", the operating framework 2009-10: for the NHS in England sets out:
The Childhood Bereavement Network has published a briefing paper on bereavement issues affecting young people in secure settings. Bereavement in the secure setting includes figures on how many children and young people are affected by bereavement in the criminal justice system, case studies and useful resources. The briefing contains checklists and practical suggestions for finding out what support bereaved young people need in custody and making sure they get it.
The King's Fund launched a major programme to transform patients' experience of care with new research and announcement of pilot sites.
The King's Fund have published a report which assesses the scale and nature of the problems patients experience with care in hospitals. The report, Seeing the person in the patient: the Point of Care review paper, is part of a King's Fund programme aimed at transforming patients' experience of care in hospital. The Point of Care programme will also include pilots of new ways of improving care.
The two UK clinical respiratory societies, British Thoracic Society and General Practice Airways Group, have produced Effective Care - Effective Communication: Living and Dying with COPD - an educational programme consisting of a DVD and a CD of PowerPoint slides.
If you want to order a free copy of the programme that will be available in February 2009 then email bts@brit-thoracic.org.uk, putting IMPRESS-living and dying with COPD in the subject field.
Pilot of an advance care planning patient information booklet.
The information booklet ‘Planning for Your Future Care’ has been developed to help support patients and carers in the understanding of advance care planning. The simple format of the booklet sets out the different steps associated with the advance care planning process and is intended to be used as a tool to support staff and patients in initiating discussions.
In order to ensure the booklet is fit for purpose a three month pilot period is taking place in four different care settings-hospital, hospice, care homes and community. Following an evaluation of the pilots the final version should become available for general circulation in spring 2009.
Doctors, nurses and other NHS staff in England are helping to develop new standards to measure and improve the quality of care in the NHS.
Local NHS organisations are being encouraged to engage with staff to help develop a framework for a new generation of indicators that will measure quality at local, organisational, regional and national levels.
Some of the regional indicators will also be used to measure the implementation of the local visions for improved healthcare produced by every Strategic Health Authority (SHA) as part of Lord Darzi's NHS Next Stage Review - 'High Quality Care for All'.
Skills for Health have released a brief on principles and matched competences to help employers and educators across social care and health build on the development of clear and consistent approaches to training and education programmes that help all staff deliver improved support to people requiring End of Life Care.
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme quarterly newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 11 November 2008 is now available.
The theme for this issue is care homes.
Westminster Health Forum are hosting a keynote seminar "Palliative and End of Life Care" in London on 9th December 2008 to examine issues around the provision and quality of palliative and end of life care, and what more can be done to provide a better service to patients and their families. Bringing together key stakeholders with policy makers from Government and Parliament, discussion is expected to focus on how these reforms may change palliative and end of life care in the UK; how they can be implemented across the NHS, and the next steps in improving the quality and provision of palliative and end of life care.
Speakers include: Professor Mike Richards, Thomas Hughes-Hallett and Claire Henry
Further information is available on the Events page.
Closing date: 6 February 2009
The Department has today launched a consultation on Quality Markers for End of Life Care, as promised in the End of Life Care Strategy published in July. This document has been developed with help from the SHA Pathway Chairs for the NHS Next Stage Review, who identified the need for a national approach in order to raise the quality of care for people at the end of life. The document is aimed at commissioners, performance managers and providers of end of life care services, from the NHS, voluntary and independent sectors.
End of Life Care Strategy: Quality Markers Consultation
The National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) has been tasked by the Department of Health with leading a broad-based coalition to improve public awareness of death and dying. The public in general is reluctant to talk about these issues, even though many people, when responding to surveys, say that they would prefer to die at home with their loved ones if possible. This does not help choices being met at the end of life.
Concerted action and time are required to bring about a change in public attitudes. The Government is committed to supporting this coalition and will be funding its programme of work as one element of the End of Life Care Strategy. Preparatory work is underway to establish the coalition later in the year, and to consider what success would look like in promoting public awareness and how best to measure it. We will be publishing more information about its role and future plans and how you can all get involved all over the coming months.
A new guide has been launched to help GPs support unpaid family carers. It aims to help GP practices put systems in place to identify carers and their health needs, provide useful information and draw on the range of carer support organisations in most communities. Supporting carers: an action guide for general practitioners and their teams can be downloaded from The Princess Royal Trust for Carers' website.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges launched new guidelines for doctors on how to diagnose and confirm death in patients on 26 October 2008. The new code of practice has taken four years to produce following extensive consultation and is designed to remove ambiguities in the way death has previously been diagnosed. The new code takes into account the advances in medical science since the previous code was published in 1998.
The End of Life Care Report, survey and reviews for HC 1043 Session 2007-2008 by the Comptroller and Auditor General has been released.
Findings relate to end of life care in the UK and cover:
and gives recommendations for:
Annual funding of £3 million for palliative and end of life care was announced at the launch of a national action plan for palliative care in Scotland. Living and dying well: a national action plan for palliative and end of life care in Scotland was launched by Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon. It aims to make sure patients and their families get the support they need.
Some key points of the action plan include access to 24-hour community nursing and home care services which allows patients to be cared for at home at end of life if they wish, a national education plan and electronic palliative care summaries for patient medical records.
(Source: New direction for palliative care. The Scottish Government: Press release, 2 October 2008.)
The final evaluation report has now been published. The evaluation consortium was tasked with assessing and reporting on the specific approaches being adopted across the 20 pilots involved in the programme and ensuring these findings provided the evidence needed to support organisations prepare, plan and introduce information prescriptions locally.
NHS Choices have launched NHS Guides and information prescriptions for 6 health conditions - Asthma, Stroke, Diabetes, Dementia, Depression and Coronary Heart Disease. NHS Choices will shortly issue further new NHS Guides and linked information prescriptions for prostate and bladder cancer, arthritis, COPD, heart failure, renal failure and chronic kidney disease.
The DH information prescription online resource pack brings together pilot experiences and provides the practical advice and tools local organisations need to introduce information prescriptions within their own areas. Since the beginning of April, the resource pack has been updated regularly and there is now an update section on the first page highlighting the latest changes and improvements.
The sucessful launch of the new Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment Guide for Health and Social Care Professionals took place on September 2nd 2008. The launch was held at the Riverside Centre, Derby and was supported by Derbyshire County PCT. This work has been commisioned by the Department of Health and Social Care Institute for Excellence as part of a programme of work implementing the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
The new national guide is intended to clarify the law for professionals and offer additional practical information to enable them to support people who may choose to consider making an advance decision to refuse treatment. Download the publication from publications section.
St Christopher's Hospice and Harris HospisCare have merged, making their longstanding collaboration a permanent one.
The merger of the two hospices became official from 1 September 2008. Harris HospisCare will now be known as Harris HospisCare with St Christopher's.St Christopher's chief executive Barbara Monroe said: "The merger will provide opportunities to further important developments including the support of those with non-cancer related illnesses and the care of older people in care homes and people with dementia."
Help the Hospices have published the Hospice UK Online eNewsletter - Issue 358 (5th September 2008) which provides news and articles on Hospice and Palliative care related issues in the UK.
Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis today announced a £1millon grant to help establish the world's first purpose-built institute for research into end of life care.
The Cicely Saunders Institute for Palliative Care will enable leading researchers to work alongside each other in a purpose built building for the first time ever and deliver high quality palliative care solutions to patients, as well as providing education, patient information and support.
The Department of Health and the National End of Life Care Programme have issued a joint statement to confirm that NHS Continuing Healthcare funded care can be delivered in a care home setting (nursing and or personal care). It is available for end of life care, and can be fast tracked if necessary.
The NHS Workforce Review Team website provides workforce summaries and models for each specialty and profession, details of their publications and project work, more information about WRT, links to other organisations, as well as the latest news that is of interest to all workforce planners.
All case studies are available in the Making Change Happen section.
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme quarterly newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 10: August 2008 is now available.
The theme for this issue is User Engagement.
End of Life Care Strategy: Promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life:
See the full strategy document and additional background information in Making change happen.
A new interactive web-based resource, called 'Cancer e-Atlas', has been developed by the National Cancer Intelligence Network to improve access to cancer statistics across England. It aims to provide health care professionals, commissioners, health service managers and the public with information on incidence, mortality and survival for the common types of cancers in men and women.
Minister for Health, Edwina Hart, has announced £8 million of funding over the next three years to further improve palliative care across Wales. This investment will see £1 million being allocated to palliative care across Wales in 2008 to 2009, increasing to £2 million in 2009 to 2010 and then £5 million in 2010 to 2011.
It is anticipated that the new funding will be invested in both NHS and voluntary sector providers of palliative care.
Major investment to boost palliative care. Welsh Assembly Government
Justice Minister Bridget Prentice has announced new coroners' powers to help prevent avoidable deaths. From 17 July 2008, a new statutory duty will be placed on organisations to respond to coroners' reports on action that should be taken to prevent future deaths. Reports will be shared with bereaved families, so that they are aware of the action being taken.
Coroner reform: stronger powers give families more involvement
Chief Nursing Officer, Christine Beasley, has launched a new set of benchmarks to help nurses and other health and social care staff improve the care environment - such as the hospital ward, a patient's bed, or a GP practice. The benchmarks, which are part of the Essence of Care series, focus on issues such as ease of access, cleanliness and tidiness.
New best practice tool for nurses Department of Health
The UK needs a new system to pay for long-term care for older people, which combines a clear-cut entitlement to care and support with a sharing of costs between individuals and the state, according to a new report. The Future of Care Funding: Time for a change has been produced following a nine-month consultation initiative, run by a coalition of 15 organisations with an interest in the long-term care system.
Nationwide consultation suggests that individuals will help pay for a fairer, clearer long-term care system The King's Fund
Help the Hospices has been working with the Healthcare Commission (HCC) to develop a set of Frequently Asked Questions for Hospices on Death Notification in England. It is hoped the guidance will provide clarity for hospices over their duties in relation to deaths in their care. The document has been put together in partnership with the HCC and hospices. Notifications of Death (Regulation 28)
For further information please contact Jonathan Ellis, Director of Policy and Parliamentary Affairs, at j.ellis@helpthehospices.org.uk
A strategy to ensure the NHS workforce in Scotland is fit for the future has been published. Better Health, Better Care: Planning for Tomorrow's Workforce Today will ensure that workforce planning supports the principles set out in the Scottish Government's Action Plan for Health and Wellbeing. The plan aims to ensure that the NHS has the right staff in the right place, with the right skills at the right time in order to deliver high quality care and services to the people of Scotland.
NHS workforce planning - The Scottish Government
The National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) has released new findings which argue the organisation and provision of palliative and end of life care for people with dementia is fragmented and variable. Creative Partnerships: Improving Quality of Life at the End of Life for People with Dementia states that simple physical needs are not being met.
NCPC committed to Improving Quality of Life at the End of Life for People with Dementia
The NHS Confederation has launched a new report which says the NHS wants and needs to be more accountable to patients and the public. Principles for accountability: putting the public at the heart of the NHS explores ways to improve the local accountability of primary care trusts.
NHS Confederation calls for strong accountability in the NHS
The Commission for Social Care Inspection has released its third report on the State of Social Care in England. The report says that people not receiving support from councils are struggling with a poor quality of life. Commission Chair, Dame Denise Platt said: "Our report is in two parts. On the one hand we show that those who qualify for council support are having a better experience than before. On the other hand those people who fall outside the system, including self funders, have a poor quality experience that can leave them struggling to cope."
State of Social Care in England - Commission for Social Care Inspection
Care Services Minister, Ivan Lewis, has asked the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) to undertake a fundamental review of the social care eligibility criteria. The criteria governs all older and disabled people's right to receive care services. CSCI will report back with recommendations in the autumn.Government orders review of Social Care eligibility rules Department of Health
A new approach to help those in hospice and palliative care improve the way they assess bereaved people's needs is offered in a new guide launched this month. Guidance for bereavement needs assessment in palliative care, published by Help the Hospices, summarises current thinking in this area and describes new ways of recognising personal resilience as well as vulnerability in the face of 'risk'.
More people to be allowed the choice to die at home
Health Secretary Alan Johnson today launched the End of Life Care Strategy, backed with £286million to provide high quality care for all adults approaching the end of their life. It will help more people to die in the setting they choose, mainly at home surrounded by loved ones.
This will mean that by 2011 the government will have met the 2005 manifesto commitment to double the investment in palliative care. It will mean better quality care for patients by making it easier for individuals to bring about their own preferences around end of life care; promoting dignity and respect, properly co-ordinating services and supporting carers.
The new ten year strategy, the first of its kind, builds on the progress made in developing end of life care services since 2000. Areas it will particularly focus on include:
Lord Darzi's NHS Next Stage Review focused on End of Life Care as one of its key pathways, and this strategy follows on from the Review, helping to make that commitment a reality.
Launching the strategy today, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said:
"People coming to the end of their lives and their loved ones deserve high quality, compassionate and dignified care, on their own terms. This strategy will help make that happen.
"We have already made £40m available to hospices to improve environments and provide greater dignity for patients, and we recently invested £4.5m to help build a Marie Curie state of the art hospice in the West Midlands.
"Now this increased funding will continue momentum for improvement and help make sure that everyone gets access to high quality palliative care and has choice about where that care takes place."
Supporting the new Strategy, Hugh Grant, Marie Curie's Ambassador, said:
"Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has campaigned hard for the public to have the choice to die at home. I am delighted to see that the Government is now honouring its 2005 Manifesto pledge to double investment in end of life care."
For the full report released on the 16th July 2008 see the End of Life Care Strategy
Royal College of Physicians, Clinical effectivness and evaluation unit - number 10 in the concise guidance to the good practice series - a series of evidence-based guidelines for clinical management. For further information see: Long Term Neurological Conditions
The carers' strategy sets out the Government's short-term agenda and long-term vision for the future care and support of carers. For further information: Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities: a caring system on your side, a life of your own
New ten year programme to give carers short breaks, more help with employment and support for them to stay healthy
The government today launched a new multi-million pound cross-cutting strategy to improve the lives of Britain's army of carers.
The Carers Strategy is supported by £255 million of new investment to implement some immediate steps.
For more information from the Department of Health click here
The NHS End of Life Care for Adults website has been enhanced to incorporate the content previously provided on the NHS End of Life Care website.
A number of new features have been added, including Advance search, Feedback, Print and My account.
Several new sections have been added, including:
Case Studies are now embedded within the Making Change Happen section and the previous Useful links and Associated documents sections have been re-organised into new sections based on the content source organisation:
A member's area has also been added and includes:
Previously registered users will need to register again using the online registration request form.
We welcome your feedback on the website and encourage you to submit suggestions for future improvements.
We hope you find the website informative and useful.
Dying patients and the bereaved to benefit from Department of Health investment in hospital environments.
The physical environment in which the NHS cares for thousands of dying patients is to be transformed as a result of a new £1 million programme funded by the Department of Health, led by the King's Fund.
Nurse-led teams in 19 NHS Trusts and one prison, will work to improve facilities to care for patients at the end of life, the bereaved and the front-line staff who care for them. The wide range of projects will include new palliative care beds, improvements to facilties for families and visitors, dedicated bereavement suites and refurbished mortuary viewing facilties.
This anouncement comes ahead of the government's End of Life Care strategy to be launched later this year which will give people greater choice and improved care at the end of their life.
For more information see the News Distribution Services for Government and the Public Sector
Dying patients given greater choice to die at home at no extra cost to the NHS, King’s Fund report concludes.
Significantly more people have been helped to choose to die in their own homes at no greater cost to the NHS as part of a Marie Curie-led pilot project, an independent King’s Fund evaluation reveals today.
Since 2004, UK charity Marie Curie’s Delivering Choice Programme has worked with doctors and nurses in hospitals, hospices and community services to give people in Lincolnshire with terminal illnesses the choice of dying at home, rather than in hospital. A recent survey from YouGov found that two-thirds of people would like to die in their own homes if they were terminally ill but just 14 per cent thought they would be properly looked after at home.
For more information see the King's Fund
