Project Details
Description
Palliative care patients often face complex health needs and emotional distress, making it critical to ensure that their care experience is compassionate, respectful, and tailored to their specific needs.
Published research has identified that there is a global need for improvement in palliative care within the acute hospital setting for people with life limiting conditions (Virdun et 2023: 37 :898). The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) report, titled ‘Planning for the End’ (2024) reviewed the care received by people with long term conditions admitted to acute hospitals in the UK. It identified that 70% of people with long-term conditions often follow a predictable course, with death anticipated well in advance of the event. The report highlighted that palliative care is not just about end of life, the importance of normalising conversations about death and dying, and that palliative and end of life care should be a core competency for patient-facing healthcare staff. This report is timely and important given the increasing number of complaints East & North Herts NHS Trust have received from patients, carers, and families with long term conditions and in need of palliative care.
An audit is currently underway and will take into consideration the NCEPOD ‘Planning for the End’ recommendations. The audit will include people admitted with long -term conditions and approaching the end of life during the audit period, plus carers. The objective is to assess the quality of palliative and end of life care provided to patients with long-term condition admitted to hospital across Care Group 3. Evaluate patient and carer experience. Identify barriers to delivering high-quality care and areas for improvement in clinical practice. Target sample size is 100.
Using the findings of the audit, a grant application for a follow on study will be written and submitted.
Published research has identified that there is a global need for improvement in palliative care within the acute hospital setting for people with life limiting conditions (Virdun et 2023: 37 :898). The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) report, titled ‘Planning for the End’ (2024) reviewed the care received by people with long term conditions admitted to acute hospitals in the UK. It identified that 70% of people with long-term conditions often follow a predictable course, with death anticipated well in advance of the event. The report highlighted that palliative care is not just about end of life, the importance of normalising conversations about death and dying, and that palliative and end of life care should be a core competency for patient-facing healthcare staff. This report is timely and important given the increasing number of complaints East & North Herts NHS Trust have received from patients, carers, and families with long term conditions and in need of palliative care.
An audit is currently underway and will take into consideration the NCEPOD ‘Planning for the End’ recommendations. The audit will include people admitted with long -term conditions and approaching the end of life during the audit period, plus carers. The objective is to assess the quality of palliative and end of life care provided to patients with long-term condition admitted to hospital across Care Group 3. Evaluate patient and carer experience. Identify barriers to delivering high-quality care and areas for improvement in clinical practice. Target sample size is 100.
Using the findings of the audit, a grant application for a follow on study will be written and submitted.
| Short title | Palliative care in acute hospital setting |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Effective start/end date | 1/03/25 → 28/02/26 |
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