NHS 2010–2015: from good to great; preventative, people-centred, productive has been published by the Department of Health and outlines the Government vision for the NHS in the next 5 years. It includes implementing the vision, the deal for patients and the public, the deal for NHS staff and how the system will support NHS staff and organisations to deliver.
The North West London Cardiac & Stroke Network have reviewed the Symptom Control Guidelines for patients with Chronic Heart Failure. These guidelines have been produced to provide healthcare professionals looking after patients with end-stage heart failure to focus on symptoms that are either particularly common or especially troublesome in this patient group. They should be used in conjunction with locally developed strategies and relevant documentation e.g. screening tools, referral criteria between services and assessment needs of patients and their carers.
A public consultation on a draft Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy in Northern Ireland has been launched. The strategy aims to provide a policy framework and best practice guidelines for the planning and delivery of palliative and end of life care across the public, independent, community and voluntary sectors and make sure that individuals with palliative and end of life care needs, their families and carers are provided with high quality, consistent and integrated care across all care settings and conditions.
The closing date for responses is 19 February 2010.
More public consultations are shown on the Consultation page.
A competency document has been developed by St Christopher's in response to, and been guided by, the End of Life Care Strategy. It focuses on the specific competencies required to give consistent care across all care settings to those at the very end of life. The document aims to empower the carer and nursing workforce to deliver end of life care in accordance with the identified pathway recommended by the End of Life Care Strategy.
For further information or to order contact Denise Brady.
The Department of Health has published the The Operating Framework for 2010/11 for the NHS in England. It sets out a number of new and powerful shifts in national policies and levers to support the NHS. It also provides a set of enablers and tools to support NHS staff to drive the transformation that will be required.
Further information is available on the NHS Operating Framework page.
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 17: December 2009 is now available.
The theme for this issue is Dementia Care.
Previous issues are available on the Newsletters page.
The International Journal of Palliative Nursing (ILPN), in collaboration with Macmillan Cancer Support, has announced the IJPN awards 2010. The awards aim to recognise excellence in palliative care and this year's categories are palliative care nurse of the year, educator of the year, development award, non-cancer award, multidisciplinary teamwork award, service user/carer/volunteer of the year and lifetime achievement award.
The closing date for entries is 29 January 2010.
The Care Quality Commission has published a five year plan outlining how it aims to drive up standards on behalf of people with learning disabilities. This will involve building intelligence networks within services, representative groups and other relevant organisations to feed into the regulator's picture of services and direct where inspections should take place.
21 January 2010 sees the launch of a free e-learning resource for health and social care staff involved in end of life care.
Developed by e-Learning for Healthcare on behalf of the Department of Health and the National End of Life Programme, around 100 modules in this ground-breaking resource will be launched at a national event in London.
Further information is available in the news item on the EoLC Workforce page.
This consultation sets out how the Care Quality Commission (CQC) propose to integrate equalities and human rights in all of their activities. They are asking specifically for feedback on: overall approach to embedding equalities and human rights; human rights-based approach; priorities for action; and action plans.
Responses are required by 25 February 2010
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published guidance for health and adult social care providers on meeting the essential standards of quality and safety that will apply as part of the new registration system. The three documents that comprise this guidance are:
The NHS Scotland chief executive's annual report for 2008 to 2009 has been published. As well as assessing NHS Scotland's performance, the report also explains the financial and policy context of the achievements made and challenges faced by the NHS in Scotland.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have made their first statement on the quality of adult social care in England, based on the publication of several documents. They found that adult social care has improved but a renewed effort is needed to eliminate poor quality services.
This Equal access? A practical guide for the NHS: creating a Single Equality Scheme that includes improving access for people with learning disabilities is a guide published by the Department of Health to support the NHS to include people with learning disabilities in their equality schemes, with practical examples of reasonable adjustments to achieve equality of access.
Following discussions with the Department of Health there have been some significant additions to the criteria of the Capital Grant Programme 2010/11. The main changes are that children’s hospices and NHS hospices are now eligible to apply, albeit with some restrictions. It has also been agreed that professional fees incurred from 8 January to 31 March 2010 can be included as eligible costs in your budget.
Further information is available on the Help the Hospices website.
Lessons Learned is a new interactive e-learning programme offered by Macmillan Cancer Support, designed to address the experience of patients and their carers when facing end of life issues. The aim of this programme is to understand what the key issues are in supporting patients and their carers at the end of life. This course is aimed at health and social care professionals.
The programme can be accessed from Macmillan LearnZone (registration is free).
The Counting the cost: caring for people with dementia report published by the Alzheimer's Society finds that people with dementia, who occupy a quarter of all hospital beds, are staying in hospital far longer than people without the condition who go in for treatment. The report is based on research involving 2,400 people on hospital wards and calls for all hospitals to reduce the average length of stay for a person with dementia by at least a week. Futher information is available on the Alzheimer's Society website.
The Integrated care and support plan (ICSP): high level process is published by the Department of Health, Putting people first and NHS Connecting for Health programme. It describes the collaborative approach used to develop a high-level, generic model for integrated care and support planning and specifically, how Common Assessment Framework messaging would be used to support the sharing of care and support planning information between health and social care systems.
Walk a mile in my shoes: scrutiny of dignity and respect for individuals in health and social care services: a guide will assist Overview and Scrutiny Committees to raise awareness and understanding of dignity and respect for individuals who are receiving health and social care services. Further information is available on the Centre for Public Scrutiny website.
An independent review has been conducted on the impact of the Dignity in Care Campaign since its introduction in November 2006. The review covers many areas of the campaign, including dignity metrics in health and social care. The Campaign has helped to produce new tools to improve dignity.
The Chief Nursing Officer, Christine Beasley, has announced eight high impact actions for nursing and midwifery which, if implemented in every NHS organisation across the country, will hugely improve the quality of care and make significant reductions in cost.
Further information is available on the NHS Innovation and Improvement website.
The Dignity in Care Campaign is celebrating its third anniversary. The event is marked with a number of activities which include publication of new With Respect training materials designed for use by care home and home care providers.
The Care Quality Commission has published guidance aimed at helping health and adult social care services in England prepare for the new registration system.
A guide to the new system of registration gives an overview of the new system, describing the main features and highlighting the key dates involved.
The scope of registration aims to help providers understand whether they need to register with the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
The National End of Life Care Programme has appointed its first Social Care Lead in a key move towards improving services for those approaching death and their loved ones.
Professor Margaret Holloway will work two days a week for the programme while continuing in her position as Professor of Social Work at the University of Hull. She has an extensive background in end of life care, death and bereavement issues, particularly those involving spirituality and cross-cultural attitudes to death.
Further details are available in the full press release.
Development of the strategy was led by Professor Keri Thomas, RCGP clinical champion in end of life care. The aim of the strategy is to help develop good practice and promote excellence in this area of patient care and identifies 10 recommended areas for further work.
The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) have published "Caring to the End?". The Summary Report outlines the key findings for the review of the care of patients who died in hospital with four days of admission.
Further information and the full report is available on the NCEPOD website.
The Information Standard has been launched to provide an easy way for the public to identify quality information they can trust. The scheme is open to any organisation producing health and/or social care information for the public. To qualify, organisations must demonstrate they have the necessary systems to ensure that their information is accurate, impartial, balanced, appropriately researched and accessible.
The National End of Life Care Programme has produced a new fact sheet on Independent Mental Capacity Advocates. It provides an introduction to the key elements involved, treatment and accommodation decisions and care reviews.
Other fact sheets are available on the Fact Sheets page.
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 16 October 2009 is now available.
The theme for this issue is Social Care.
Previous issues are available on the Newsletters page.
This report published by the Audit Commission reviews the joint financing and integrated care arrangements between NHS bodies and councils with adult social care responsibilities. It considers how these arrangements are used, focusing on learning disability, mental health and older people - areas where service users most often need health and social care.
The report's recommendations and examples of notable practice aim to help national and local bodies better understand the options available, how to use them and to achieve better outcomes for service users.
The think-tank Demos has published the report At your service: Navigating the future market in health and social care. It looks at how personal budgets will impact the health and social care market, what prospective budget holders know and think about personal budgets, how they would spend it and what difficulties they envisage. It sets out the likely challenges facing local authorities and service providers in delivering the personalisation agenda and contains recommendations about how to make the transition successfully.
As part of the funding made available to support the implementation of the End of Life Care Strategy, the Department of Health has identified £40 million in 2010 - 2011 to fund improvements to the physical environment for adult voluntary sector hospices in England.
At the end of the one year capital grant programme, hospices should be able to point to tangible physical improvements in their environments and show how these contribute to improved care provision for patients, their families and carers.
Available funding
Total available funding is £40 million. The minimum grant will be £25,000. There is no upper limit but we do not expect to award grants of more than £600,000 and then only in exceptional cases.
The programme aims to benefit the greatest possible number of people; large grants are likely to be few in number.
Deadline for applications is Friday 8 January 2010.
You should expect to hear a decision on your application by 30 March 2010. If successful you should be ready to start your project on 1 April 2010 and complete it by 31 March 2011.
Personal health budgets are being piloted in primary care trusts until 2012 – direct payments will form part of these. Personal health budgets will help to create a more personalised NHS, by giving people more choice and control over how money is spent on their care.
The consultation document Direct payment for health care: a consultation on proposals for regulations and guidance seeks views on the Government’s proposals for piloting direct payments for health care. This is part of the wider pilot programme to explore personal health budgets announced in High Quality Care For All.
This consultation will run from 23 October 2009 to 8 January 2010
A programme of free training on 'carers awareness' has been developed with the aim of helping staff working in health, social care and housing to provide better services and support for carers. The training has been developed by the Department of Health and Carers UK as part of the National Carers Strategy.
A programme of good practice workshops have also been developed to help staff undertake carers assessments. The workshops will examine relevant legislation and policy and evaluate current practice.
The courses will be held in London throughout November and December. For more information contact socialcarepartnerships.london@dh.gsi.gov.uk
The Liverpool Care Pathway is an integrated pathway tool which can be used during the last 72/48 hours of life. It provides guidance on the different aspects of care required, including comfort measures, anticipatory prescribing and discontinuation of inappropriate interventions.
The National End of Life Care Programme has responded to recent publicity about the Liverpool Care Pathway with a two page leaflet outlining how the programme works and the widespread support it enjoys amongst senior clinicians.
The Liverpool Care Pathway Central Team at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool (MCPCiL) has issued a statement addressing recent media reporting of the pathway.
This letter to SHA Chief Executives and Directors of Commissioning from Claire Whittington (Acting Director of Commissioning) gives a progress report on the World Class ommissioning programme, including updates on assurance year two, revisions to the new practice-based commissioning surveys, an update on integrated care pilots and information on new online and film resources.
Two National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP) Fact Sheets have been uploaded to the website:
More NEoLCP Fact Sheets are available on the Fact Sheet page
All case studies are available in the Making Change Happen section.
North easterners are being asked to tackle a taboo and talk about death as the region launches the UK’s first ever charter on end of life care.
The pioneering charter sets out proposals for the kind of care and support which people who are dying, their families and carers, can expect. Once agreed, it will guide those who plan and provide end of life care or support.
The consultation on A Good Death will centre around a questionnaire and research will also be carried out by an on street team in towns and cities across the region. Feedback will inform the charter and help NHS North East and other partners plan work around end of life care. The findings are expected to be available in late January 2010.
More details are available on the Consultations page and for further information on the charter and how to respond to the consultation visit A Good Death
A study on the benefits of personal budgets has been announced by the Department of Health. Twenty sites across England have been selected for the study, which aims to identify the benefits of personal health budgets and which patient groups will benefit most from them.
High quality services for carers rely on high quality commissioning. With this in mind, the Department of Health has funded a consortium to produce a guide for commissioners that is available on the IDEA website. Commissioners will find the guide valuable in ensuring not only high quality outcomes, but also achieving their targets in respect of carers.
New Continuing care directions have been issued, giving statutory effect to key elements of the revised National Framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care.
A revised practice guide setting out the process for determining the eligibility for NHS-funded nursing care under the revised framework has been published.
The Department of Health has also published a public information leaflet on NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care, which includes details on who is eligible.
If you work in a specialist palliative care service or hospice and link in with the work of the Gold Standard framework (GSF) in primary care, care homes or hospitals, GSF would like you to complete the GSF and Specialist Palliative Care Survey.
Reply by 1st November 2009
The National Cancer Action Team (NCAT) have added a section on cancer rehabilitation to the NHS Cancer programme website. It provides an update on work done and service provision in cancer and palliative care, including:
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 15 August 2009 is now available.
The theme for this issue is Community Services.
Previous issues are available on the Newsletters page.
A new Equality and Diversity Council that will strengthen the national focus on improving quality in the National Health Service, was announced by the Department of Health today. Its key role will be reporting on equality and diversity issues to the NHS Management Board, including championing improvement and campaigning for change.
Lay members are being asked to apply to join the council which will include representatives from patient groups, NHS staff, social care and voluntary organisations and the Council will be chaired by NHS Chief Executive, David Nicholson. Advertisements for Council lay members who can provide a wider perspective and challenge traditional thinking will appear in the national and trade press in early September.
Help the Hospices have published the UK Hospice and Palliative Care Services Directory: 2009 - 2010. It is a comprehensive listing of hospice and palliative care services throughout the UK with more than 1,000 entries. Services are listed by region, and maps show the provision of services in each area. Help the Hospicies provide an online searchable database or it can be ordered in a print version.
The directory also lists organisations which can provide support to patients and professionals – such as local cancer information and support centres and national professional associations in palliative care – and includes facts and figures about palliative care provision.
The Department of Health has revised the National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS Funded Nursing Care. It describes how the phrase a ‘primary health need’ has developed, and how this concept helps in determining when someone should receive NHS continuing healthcare.
Further information is available on the National Frameworks for Continuing Care page.
The Department of Health has published a revised implementation plan for the National Dementia Strategy. The plan describes the implementation task, arrangements for national and regional support, and the programmes that have been put in place to support delivery of 'Living well with dementia: a National Dementia Strategy'. The plan also shows how the performance assessment framework in health and social care will operate to prioritise dementia and provide the necessary focus for development.
Further information is available on the National Dementia Strategy page
The Dementia Information Portal website, provided by the Department of Health, follows the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy. It offers information and support to members of the National Dementia Strategy Implementation Reference Group and anyone with an interest in improving services for people with dementia.
The National Council for Palliative Care and the NHS Centre for Involvement have produced a guide to involving patients, carers and the public in palliative care and end of life care services.
This guide aims to help organisations that provide or commission palliative and end of life care services, their staff and members of the public to strengthen involvement in palliative and end of life care and meet the national and local imperatives around patient and public involvement.
The Department of Health has launched a consultation on a proposed new benchmark for pain management. The Essence of Care toolkit provides a benchmarking process which aims to help practitioners take a structured approach to sharing and comparing practice, enabling them to identify the best practice and develop action plans to remedy poor practice.
It is also consulting on all the original Essence of Care benchmarks, which include bladder and bowel care, care environment, communication, food and drink, personal hygiene, pressure ulcers, promoting health and wellbeing, record keeping, respect, safety and self-care.
Closing date for both consultations is 12 October 2009.
This Green Paper sets out a vision for a new care and support system. It highlights the challenges faced by the current system and the need for radical reform to develop a National Care Service that is fair, simple and affordable for everyone. Within the Green Paper, a number of consultation questions are set out inviting views about how the Government can make this vision a reality. The consultation will run from 14 July 2009 to 31 October 2009.
Further information is available on the Department of Health website.
In July 2008 the Department of Health published the End of life care strategy - promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life. This End of Life Care Strategy - First Annual Report sets out progress over the first year.
Dementia advisors have started work at 22 demonstrator sites. The advisors aim to help people with dementia and their families navigate the care and support system throughout their illness.
Support networks for families and carers are also to be piloted at 18 additional sites. The pilots will test different ways of providing local practical and emotional support for people with dementia and their carers and give them an opportunity to take an active role in developing local services.
This End of Life Care Learning Resource Pack Information and Resources for housing, care and support staff in extra care housing should help those caring for someone with a life limiting condition.
Primarily aimed at carers in an extra care housing setting, the resource pack was a key recommendation from staff taking part in a service improvement project last year and has been piloted in an extra care setting in Gateshead.
The pack has been developed by Housing 21 and the National End of Life Care Programme, with support from a Skills for Care grant. It is a practical tool providing useful information and guidance, including:
Further information is available in the press release and related information can be found on the Housing page.
The Secretary of State for Health has announced that focus will move from the containment of swine flu to treatment.
The Department of Health has published a leaflet on the new approach, outlining what a treatment phase means and what this new approach means for people with swine flu.
The Department of Health has published a leaflet on personal health budgets. It has been designed to be given out by organisations involved in developing personal health budgets to people who might be interested in having a personal health budget. It introduces the idea of a personal health budget and provides details of where to get further information.
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 14 June 2009 is now available.
The theme for this issue is From community engagement to the new quality markers.
Previous issues are available on the Newsletters page.
The End of Life Care Strategy published in July 2008 included a commitment to publish Quality Markers for End of Life Care. This was a response to 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 SHA Pathway Chairs helped produce the consultation draft which was published in November 2008.
The document Response to the consultation on Quality Markers and measures for end of life care, published by the Department of Health, reflects the comments we received through the consultation.
Health profiles is a section on the Association of Public Health Observatories website that provides a snapshot of health for each local council in England using key health indicators, enabling comparison locally, regionally and over time. They are designed to help local councils and the NHS decide where to target resources and tackle health inequalities in their local area. The 2009 version has now been published.
The Department of Health have published the Consultation response to the End of Life Care Strategy: Quality Markers Consultation which ran from November 2008 to February 2009.
Most health and social care staff will be caring for people at the end of their lives at some point in their work. But unless you are working in a field such as palliative care it is unlikely you will have had the training you need to deliver the highest quality care and support to people at the end of their lives.
Now, the National End of Life Care Programme has worked with Skills for Health and Skills for Care to outline the core skills and knowledge that will allow staff across health and social care to respond with confidence to one of the most challenging areas of care.
Common core competences and principles for health and social care workers working with adults at the end of life outlines the principles that underpin quality end of life care. The document is a guide to the core skills and knowledge that will equip you to play your part in the delivery of high quality end of life care.
The skills you can develop are grouped into four sections:
The document also outlines the principles that should guide your work with those nearing the end of their life and their friends and relatives.
The Department of Health have published Transforming Community Services: Ambition, Action, Acheivement - Transformaing End of Life Care.
As people approach the end of their lives the availability of high quality, accessible care enables them and their families to make important choices about how they want to be cared for and their place of death. Competent and compassionate care is critical to allow patients a dignified death and giving families support in bereavement. It should be of the highest quality regardless of diagnosis and whether it is carried out at home, in a community hospital or another setting.
This guide is a practical tool to ensure that this care is based on high quality evidence and best practice.
The Department of Health has published the National Dementia Strategy joint commissioning framework for dementia. This framework aims to provide best practice guidance for commissioning dementia services.
Further information is available on the National Dementia Strategy page
The Guardian newspaper has launched its Public Services Awards 2009 in partnership with Hays Specialist Recruitment. The awards celebrate excellence in organisations commissioning or providing public services. This year there have been some small adjustments to the categories, highlighting the role of carers in supporting people who live with long-term health conditions and the contribution of frontline workers to service innovation.
The team awards are in two main sections - service delivery and innovation and progress - with a number of different categories in each. There is also an award for citizenship and volunteering, designed to recognise volunteering and other initiatives that contribute to the community and which is open to teams operating in the private sector and public services.
The closing date for entries is 17 July 2009.
Launched by the National End of Life Care Programme, the End of Life Care in Advanced Kidney Disease - A Framework for Implementation is an important step in ensuring that people with advanced kidney disease receive the very best care in the last years, months and days of their lives. It is about enabling people to achieve high quality end of life care, rather than "telling them what to do". To achieve this, it explores the "kidney specific" issues of end of life care focusing on patients opting for conservative kidney management and those "deteriorating despite" dialysis.
Further information is available on the Kidney Disease page
The Public Accounts Committee - Nineteeth report, 'End of life care', can be downloaded from The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee website.
The committee took evidence from witnesses from the Department of Health and the NHS on the provision of end of life care. Examined the scale and quality of end of life care; the current and future approach to commissioning and funding of services; and the capability and capacity of NHS and social care staff to provide such care. The report outlines their conclusions and makes recommendations for further action.
The results of the Specialist palliative care workforce survey 2008 have been published by the National Council for Palliative Care. They show cancer network level information so networks and providers can draw comparisons between this and the national data.
The survey was carried out in partnership with the NHS Information Centre and the NHS Workforce Review Team supported by the NHS Cancer Action Team.
Carers of people nearing the end of life in the West Midlands are to be the first in the country to benefit from a new Caring with Confidence programme designed to help them improve their own health and well being and that of the person they care for.
Many care homes feel isolated and do not have the support they need to provide top quality end of life care. The National End of Life Care Programme recently commissioned a study to examine how these issues affected the care of older people in nursing homes. This End of life care in nursing homes: Understanding and mapping solutions briefing outlines the main themes that emerged and summarised the report recommendations.
This executive summary for End of life care in care homes: Understanding and mapping innovative solutions reports a study commissioned by the National End of Life Care Programme to examine these issues in relation to the care of older people in nursing homes. The study was conducted by staff from the Sue Ryder Care Centre for Palliative and End of Life Studies at the University of Nottingham and from the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University between September 2007 and November 2008.
The Practice Based Development and Research Programme is accepting new applications. The programme is supported by a partnership between The Foundation of Nursing Studies and the General Nursing Council Trust and aims to help advise and fund nurses who wish to undertake practice based research, with the explicit purpose of developing practice and improving patient care. The programme supports nurse-led healthcare teams who have identified an aspect of care that needs improving and are committed to working in a systematic way to develop and change practice through research. The closing date for applications is 26 June 2009.
A total of £1.5 million has been awarded to help NHS staff pursue projects that will develop services in the community. The Innovation Awards are a direct response to feedback from patients calling for more services to be developed closer to patient's homes and in the community where they live.
In response to the current situation with regards to swine flu, Help the Hospices has updated its flu guidance Flu pandemic planning: advice for hospices. This includes information on alert status, infection control, vaccines and antivirals as well as a planning checklist and a blank action template. Help the Hospices will be adding infection control information to its website during the next few days so please visit the site to keep up to date.
The situation is developing quickly - for the latest information and advice for health and social care staff visit the Department of Health website, the Scottish Government website, the Welsh Assembly Government website or the Northern Ireland Direct website.
The Department of Health has published guidance for healthcare organisations on managing demand and capacity. Pandemic flu: managing demand and capacity in healthcare organisations (surge) aims to support NHS and social care organisations to build on their existing preparedness plans and enable clinicians to work within an ethical framework during a pandemic, when there may be a significant increase in demand for care. It aims to provide staff with guidance on operational issues around the increase in demand for services and supporting clinicians with the decision-making processes on triaging patients.
Over the past months, the Royal College of Physicians has been preparing new guidance for frontline staff on management during a pandemic influenza outbreak. While these guidelines are still at proof stage, current events necessitate releasing the advice ahead of schedule.
The Preparations for pandemic influenza guidance, which includes recommendations for oncology and palliative care, is designed to indicate how specialities could adjust their patterns of work to best cope during a pandemic.
The intended audience for this guidance is acute hospital and PCTs, and medical staff including consultants working in hospital specialties. It is not designed to provide detailed operational guidance for responding to an influenza pandemic, but to enable hospitals to coordinate care during a difficult period.
The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) Central Team UK at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool (MCPCIL) have produced a breifing paper on the Management of patients with Swine Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection in the last hours and days of life.
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 13 April 2009 is now available.
The theme for this issue is End of Life Care tools.
The Department of Health and 11 specialist organisations, including the National Council for Palliative Care, will work together with the aim of transforming the way the Department of Health works with third sector organisations. The Third Sector Strategic Partner programme aims to support third sector organisations to build their skills and knowledge to improve health and social care services and act as advocates. Making sure the third sector has input in developing health and social care policy is another aim.
A new report from the Care Commission in Scotland states that more than 40% of care homes in Scotland need to improve the support they offer people who require palliative and end of life care. Better care every step of the way is based on 1036 inspections and three investigations carried out by the Care Commission. It found that 54% of services had not fully trained their staff or given them enough educational support or deal with issues surrounding death and dying. The Care Commission has recommended that care home staff need increased knowledge, skills and educational support to make sure that the standard of palliative care is improved across Scotland.
The second publication in Help the Hospices Widening Access series, 'Widening access to palliative care for people with learning disabilities: guidance and resources for professionals', concentrates on the end of life and bereavement care needs of people with learning disabilities and their families. This publication contextualises the issues within the most recent literature, research and good practice to offer specific guidance and signpost towards resources to enable practitioners to address the challenges of meeting the care needs of this group of patients.
This publication will be available from the middle of May. To register your interest, please email your details to publications@helpthehospices.org.uk
A new report from Age Concern and Help the Aged tracks progress during the past 12 months on issues affecting the quality of life of older people in the UK. One voice: shaping our ageing society looks at issues including poverty, age discrimination, isolation and lack of care and support. The report says that emergency and end of life care are high priorities for many older people.
The National End of Life Care Programme in collaboration with the University of Nottingham and the National Council for Palliative Care has developed Planning for your future care - a guide.
The aim is to provide simple and easy to understand guidance for patients making advance care plans for their future. It may prove relevant to family members and informal carers. We anticipate that professionals will find this booklet a useful support tool when approaching the often difficult situation of discussing advance care planning with people who have a life limiting illness.
This guide is also available in a printable A5 booklet version or an order form can be downloaded.
The call for papers is now open for the Palliative Care Congress, which will be held from 10-12 March 2010 in Bournemouth.
Abstracts will be considered on all areas of palliative and end of life care and should be submitted within the following categories: research, clinical innovation & audit and art.
Abstracts can be submitted online. For further details and to submit your abstract, please visit the Palliative Care Congress website and click on 'Call for Papers'.
Submission expiry date is 25th September 2009.
A £4 million, 16 pilot site scheme to trial how health and social care services can join together to increase quality of care has been announced. The scheme will aim to look beyond traditional health and social care boundaries to explore how services for patients and service users can be improved. It will then assess the benefits of different models of care and identify any best practice that could be used more widely. The health issues to be tackled in each pilot include dementia, care for the elderly, and end of life care.
A national information, advice and support telephone service for carers has been launched. The freephone telephone service offers information and advice on topics such as financial and legal issues, work and study, keeping healthy and finding local carers support groups and services. The service also offers advice to young carers. The freephone number for the service is 0808 802 0202. Online information and advice can be accessed at NHS Choices: Careers Direct.
A new two-stage complaints process for health and social care replaces the existing system. The new system should be beneficial not only to patients and service users, but to NHS and local authority organisations and their staff. This briefing outlines the key points of the new process and its implications. (NHS Confederation - publications)
The Healthcare Commission has produced a national study Listening, learning, working together?: a national study of how well healthcare organisations engage local people in planning and improving their services. This report describes the findings from a study of how healthcare organisations in England engage people when they plan and improve health services. It also looks at the extent to which people can influence decisions by health services.
The General Medical Council has launched a consultation on new draft guidance, End of life treatment and care: Good practice in decision-making.
The draft guidance is based on long-established ethical principles which include doctors obligations to show respect for human life; protect the health of their patients; and to make the care of their patients their first concern. In particular, sections 43 to 53 relate to Advance Care Planning.
This is an important piece of guidance and doctors, patients and other health professionals are encouraged to respond to the consultation.
More information is on the consultations page.
The Healthcare Commission has published a study into public and patient involvement in healthcare in England. Listening, learning, working together?: a national study of how well healthcare organisations engage local people in planning and improving their services includes recommendations and practical guidance for healthcare services on involving people and patients effectively.
All case studies are available in the Making Change Happen section.
New members have been appointed to the National Quality Board. The lay and expert appointments include leaders from the charity and third sectors, academia, social care and the Royal Colleges. Their experience comes from time spent as patients, carers, clinicians and academics. The new National Quality Board will focus on the role of quality in the NHS in driving improvements for patients.
The Nursing & Midwifery Council has published guidance on care for older people. Guidance for the care of older people is a set of principles for care which focus on respect, dignity and communication. The guidance covers three main areas: people – the skills and qualities of nurses who provide care, process – different aspects of that care and place – the different environments where care is delivered.
Marie Curie Cancer Care and London homelessness charity St Mungo's have launched a palliative care service for homeless people with terminal illnesses. The service aims to provide support to St Mungo's residents who have a terminal illness, as well as bereavement support and training to other residents and staff. The new service will be a pilot project, initially for three years, and the long term aim would be to develop a model of care which can be transferred to other UK cities.
Marie Curie Cancer Care has announced plans to invest more in research into end of life care. The charity plans to place less emphasis on fundamental scientific research and more on research in end of life care. The charity's trustees have decided to hold a full review of current research activities, focusing on the balance between future research into cure and care. The review is expected to be completed this summer.
The End of Life Care Strategy announced the formation of a new national coalition to support the implementation of the strategy, with a focus on raising public awareness and with an aim to support changing attitudes and behaviours in society in relation to death, dying and bereavement.
The Coalition Newsletter 1 is the first communication briefing to inform you of the progress being made and to invite your organisation to become a member of this new coalition. It will be led by the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) working closely with the Department of Health (DH) and other key stakeholders.
The intention is that the coalition will have a broad inclusive membership, providing an opportunity for all those committed to raising public awareness in death, dying and bereavement to become involved.
The aim of this national guideline (No 12 in the Concise Guidance to Good Practice Series) is to inform health and social care professionals on how best to manage advance care planning (ACP) in clinical practice.
The Advance care planning guideline has been prepared by the British Geriatrics Society, Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal College of General Practitioners, British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, Alzheimer's Society, Help the Aged and the National Council for Palliative Care.
Local Authority Circular LAC(DH)(2009)1 sets out the details of the social care reform grant, which provides ring-fenced funds to support councils to redesign and reshape their systems to deliver Putting People First. This second year sees a significant increase in the grant, which rises to £195million in 2009/10.
This letter from David Nicholson outlines the statutory responsibilities for PCTs, local authorities and SHAs in establishing delivery mechanisms and ensuring they have sufficient numbers of trained staff available.
The Nursing in Practice Annual Awards 2009 will award best practice in a variety of clinical areas, and are designed to recognise excellence and innovation in the primary care setting.
Applications are invited from individuals or teams of primary healthcare professionals who have undertaken projects to improve the quality of care for groups of patients. Nominations must be submitted by end May 2009.
There are many examples of outstanding leadership in the NHS locally, regionally and nationally. The new NHS Leadership Awards 2009, launched this week, aim to recognise this outstanding leadership and are aligned to the National Leadership Council.
The NHS Leadership Awards Scheme is open to everyone working for, or on behalf of, the NHS in England. You will be able to make a nomination from March to Friday 15 May inclusive.
Practice based commissioning is about involving GP practices and other health and primary care professionals in the commissioning of services. This guidance document sets out a renewed vision for practice-based commissioning (PBC).
The latest issue of the National End of Life Care Programme quarterly newsletter Team Briefing - Issue 12 February 2009 is now available.
The theme for this issue is Commissioning.
Individual budgets can greatly improve carers' quality of life when compared with carers of people using conventional social services, new independent research has shown. They can allow carers more control and flexibility in their daily routines, and some carers said individual budgets also improved quality of life for the person they were looking after.
The research, "The Individual Budgets Pilot Projects: Impacts and Outcomes for Carers", found that:
A strategy outlining the intended future for child health services in England has been published. Healthy lives, brighter futures - the strategy for children and young people's health aims to set out what children and their families can expect from child health services in their area from birth to the age of 19. The strategy outlines that £30 million will be allocated to meet commitments made for children and young people in need of palliative and end of life care. This funding forms part of the £340 million announced to support children with disabilities and their families.
The Chief Executive of Marie Curie Cancer Care, Thomas Hughes-Hallett, will head up the expert panel on end of life care, Care Services Minister Phil Hope announced today.
Mr Hughes-Hallett, will chair of the Department of Health's End of Life Care Implementation Advisory Board, which is being set up to help improve the quality of care people receive at the end of their lives..
The advisory board, which will be made up of stakeholders who were closely involved in the development of the end of life care strategy, will meet twice a year.
Professor Mike Richards, National Director for Cancer and End of Life Care, will continue to provide national leadership to the implementation of the strategy. As part of this role he will deliver annual progress reports.
Under the leadership of Mr Hughes-Hallett, the advisory board will provide key input into the progress reports, as well as informing the future direction of the department's work on end of life care.
PCTs are responsible for ensuring that practices receive an indicative budget that reflects the needs of their population as accurately as possible. This allows a practice to access a 'fair share' of the resources available to the whole of the PCT for its patients. The Department of Health has updated the toolkit and guidance that can be used to determine weighted capitation indicative budgets at practice level.
Carers Direct, an online information service for carers, has been launched as part of the NHS Choices website. The website provides a single source of carer specific information and advice. It covers finance, benefits and the law, and health and wellbeing. Carers can also search for local services and support groups.
The first ever National Dementia Strategy is a landmark document that will transform the quality of dementia care. It sets out initiatives designed to make the lives of people with dementia, their carers and families better and more fulfilled.
Living well with dementia: a National Dementia Strategy is backed by £150 million over the first two years. It will increase awareness of dementia, ensure early diagnosis and intervention and radically improve the quality of care that people with the condition receive. Proposals include the introduction of a dementia specialist into every general hospital and care home and for mental health teams to assess people with dementia.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, all NHS bodies, and private and third-sector providers supplying NHS services in England will be required by law to take account of the NHS Constitution for England in their decisions and actions. The Government will have a legal duty to renew the Constitution every 10 years. No Government will be able to change the Constitution, without the full involvement of staff, patients and the public.
Top level section Models of Delivery has replaced the previous "Frameworks and pathway"
Sub-sections "Policies and Guidelines" and "Strategies" has been merged into Policies and strategies
Subsection "Pathways" has been replaced by Applications and Tools
Subsection Audit and Research has been added.
A revised draft Charter for bereaved people who come into contact with a reformed coroner system has been published. This version of the draft Charter incorporates comments received from stakeholders on our discussion paper issued in June 2008.
It has been published alongside the draft Coroners and Justice Bill which was formally introduced to Parliament today.
A draft has been issued for the Mental capacity regulations 2009 and are subject to consultation. The regulations confer power on the Care Quality Commission for the purpose of monitoring and reporting on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of liberty safeguards. They also amend a regulation of the Mental capacity (Deprivation of liberty: standard authorisations, assessments and ordinary residence) regulations 2008. The closing date for the consultation is 30 January 2009. The consultation applies to England only.
A partnership between the British Heart Foundation and Marie Curie Cancer Care will see £3.6 million invested in specialist palliative care for heart failure patients in Scotland. The money will be split evenly between establishing a centre of excellence, which will provide a comprehensive service for heart failure patients at the end of life, and research to establish how the needs of these patients can be met both now and in the future. The joint initiative will be based within the new Marie Curie Hospice in Glasgow and will service Glasgow and the surrounding area.
The Department of Health has issued guidance on currencies and pricing for commissioners and providers of community services. Transforming community services: currency and pricing options for community services is a reference document featuring currency (the unit of healthcare for which a provider is funded) models and options. The Department of Health will explore, with clinicians and managers, the potential for national currencies for end of life care and child health promotion.
