19 organisations chosen to join pioneering end-of-life care programme
10 May 2017
Press release
Topics
The Point of Care Foundation has selected 19 teams to join the 2017 cohort of our ‘Living Well to the Very End’ programme, funded by the Health Foundation and supported by NHS England.
The ‘Living Well to the Very End’ programme aims to improve the care of people at the end of life, drawing on the patient and family centred care (PFCC) methodology, which differs from traditional improvement methods by placing greater emphasis on taking time to discover aspects of patient experience that staff would not otherwise consider.
Last year we supported eight teams as they built on these discoveries by making tangible improvements to their services; in February we recognised their achievements at our celebration event, where participating teams reflected on how the programme has helped them to focus on the needs of patients and their families, re-connecting them to their core motivation to provide care.
Bev Fitzsimons, Head of Improvement at the Foundation, said:
“The quality of the applications we received was outstanding, which made the selection process very difficult. I look forward to supporting all of the teams we have chosen to build their capacity to make significant and lasting changes.
“The great thing about this programme is that many of the improvements which are very beneficial to patients do not take significant time or money for staff to implement. The changes we see often look simple, but it is only by having the time to take a step back that staff are able to notice seemingly small things, such as practical aspects which add extra stress at an already difficult time.
“These are incredibly important changes that can be underestimated when outcome measures are focused solely on clinical care.”
Gill Clayton, Programme Manager at the Health Foundation, said:
“It’s been incredibly encouraging to see some of the tangible improvements that have already been made to end of life services through this programme. As more organisations join the initiative in this next phase, we look forward to seeing how learning can be shared and spread more widely so that we can continue improving the vital care people receive at the end of their lives.”
Below is a full list of the successful organisations chosen to take part in the 2017 ‘Living Well to the Very End’ programme:
- Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
- Aneurin Bevan University Health Board
- Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Bromley Care Coordination (BCC) St. Christopher’s Hospice and the Princess Royal University Hospital Bromley (PRUH)
- Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS FT (CMFT), Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital
- Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
- London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust
- North Bristol NHS Trust
- Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
- Nottinghamshire Health Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
- Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
- Royal Hospital for Neuro-Disability, Putney, London
- Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
- Wolverhampton CCG
- Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust
- BrendonCare
- Canford Chase, Colten Care
- Colten Care
About The Point of Care Foundation:
- The Point of Care Foundation is an independent charity dedicated to improving patients’ experience of care and increasing support for the staff who work with them.
- We provide evidence and resources to support health and care staff in the difficult work of caring for patients.
- We believe a truly patient-centred approach – focused on listening, understanding and responding to the needs of the whole individual – is essential to the delivery of the best possible quality of care.
- For media enquiries contact Patrick Cullen, communications manager on: 020 3841 5578 or at patrickcullen@pointofcarefoundation.org.uk. Out of hours on 07969 991 720.
About The Health Foundation
The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK: www.health.org.uk
The Health Foundation is funding this Point of Care programme through its Spreading Improvement programme. This programme looks to support projects that the Health Foundation has previously funded, which have already demonstrated improvements and that could be transferable to other contexts at a regional or national level. As well as spreading successful interventions, the Health Foundation is looking to build on and deepen its understanding of the key barriers and enablers that teams will experience when taking their interventions into new contexts, in order to contribute to wider learning on how spread can be better achieved in practice.