End of Life care
Our vision is ‘Providing the best care at the end of life by the best people’.
Our ambitions build on the key national frameworks for palliative and end of life care.
At NELFT, we acknowledge that the pathway we follow as we approach the end of our lives will differ considerably with different illnesses. Additionally, Children’s palliative care differs greatly from adult palliative care. Children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions require palliative care over a much longer period. Their condition often fluctuates and, as such, it is more difficult to identify when a child is moving into their end of life phase. We know that the care people receive at the end of their life is important to the person, but equally impacts the lives of those family and friends who remain. We, therefore, aim to work with patients and families to respond to their different needs.
Our philosophy builds on the understanding that ‘there is only one chance to get it right’ (LACDP 2014). Our strategy underpins this (see End of Life Care strategy below).
NELFT End of Life Care Strategy
The End of Life Care strategic group meets every six weeks and oversees the delivery of the strategy. These meetings are attended by an identified End of Life Care lead from each directorate. Their role is to champion End of Life Care in your area and be the conduit between the strategy group and frontline services. This webpage is in the early stages of development, so please keep logging on and seeing all the new information provided below.
We are committed to ensuring that all NELFT staff will be aware of how to provide care based on the five priorities of care:
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Recognise individual needs and preferences and be open to discuss fears and concerns.
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Communicate clearly with patients, carers, family and wider stakeholders to ensure care is individually reviewed, planned and coordinated. This will include working closely with stakeholders to improve the long-term conditions and palliative care pathways.
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Be clear who needs to be involved and ensure patients, families and carers understand what support is available locally in relation to individual needs. Ensure peer support is available for carers and that our staff have access to support, supervision and mentoring.
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Provide information and have early discussions with the patient, carer, family and be flexible in regards to changing needs, ensuring the appropriate support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Involve patients, carers, families early and understand patient wishes. Develop a well-communicated care plan that is coordinated across agencies. To have strong governance in place to ensure the best care is being provided.
NELFT is committed to all staff receiving training to support them in all aspects of the above
End of Life Strategy.pdf [pdf] 1MB
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to meet and provide equitable and accessible care and support for all our patients, regardless of their age, disability, marital status, race, religion or non-belief, sex, sexual orientation or transgender reassignment. There is evidence that there is a low use of end of life care service by people from black and ethnic minority groups and Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. We will make every effort to ensure that we meet both the cultural and religious aspects of your care or the care of your loved one, and this can only be achieved by us working in partnership with you and communicating these needs at the earliest, so those appropriate arrangements could be made.
End of Life operational structure
End of Life operational structure April 2019 [pptx] 91KB