News
See also the Public Health England website.
22 April 2013
Professor Julia Verne of Public Health England, Knowledge and Intelligence (South West) recently presented at the Delivering in inclusive end of life care services that meet the expectations, preference and needs of people from Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic (BAME) background Workshop. A national workshop which looked at new research relating to the end of life care needs of the BAME population. The presentation was entitled Ethical challenges in end of life care in a pluralist society.
For more information, please see Delivering inclusive end of life care services that meet the expectations, preferences and needs of people from Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds flyer
12 April 2013
176 Hospices across England have been awarded a share of £60 million of government funding to improve care environments and settings. Hospices providing end of life care for children and adults will benefit from the funding, which is part of the Capital grant Scheme.
The money will be used to support the care to people in their own homes and invest in patients, their families and carers.
For information on the funding given to individual hospices, see Hospices Funding Breakdown.
11 April 2013
Most patients with cancer prefer to die at home or in a hospice, but hospitals remain the most common place of death (PoD). A population-based study undertaken on behalf of the Guide-Care project examines the changing patterns of place of death of people with cancer and the factors associated with place of death in England between 1993 and 2010 for end-of-life-care improvement.
The study concludes that more efforts are needed to reduce hospital deaths. Health care facilities should be improved and enhanced to support the increased home and hospice deaths. People who are single, widowed, or divorced should be a focus for end-of-life care improvement, along with known at risk groups such as haematological cancer, lung cancer, older age, and deprivation.
Read more on the study: http://www.endoflifecare-intelligence.org.uk/resources/publications/otherpublications#Cancer
5 March 2013
A new report by Help the Hospices and Kings Colleges London seeks ways to help hospices understand future challenges and plan to meet future needs. It reports on UK mortality data, one of the core indicators of the need for hospice care at a population level as well as other UK demographic and epidemiological data showing past trends; present statistics and up-to-date projections. The report provides evidence on people’s expectations and realities in hospice care provision and shows that these factors have important implications for future care planning in order to plan hospice care.
Download the report: Current and future needs for hospice care: an evidence-based report
New report: Deaths from cardiovascular diseases: Implications for end of life care in England
6 February 2013
A new report from the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network highlights how people with cardiovascular diseases are more likely to die in hospital (59%), than people dying from other conditions (51%), with less than 1% of all cardiovascular disease deaths occurring in a hospice.
‘Deaths from cardiovascular diseases: Implications for end of life care in England’ acknowledges that while some of these deaths will be sudden and unexpected, more should be done to ensure that people with cardiovascular diseases can access the end of life care services they need.
Download the media release: Report finds people dying from cardiovascular diseases are more likely to die in hospital.
Download the report: Deaths from cardiovascular diseases: Implications for end of life care in England.
Marie Curie Cancer Care examines place of death and hospital use at the end of life
20 December 2012
Marie Curie Cancer Care recently commissioned a study which examined its own home–based nursing service to see whether it helped more people to die at home, and reduce hospital use and costs at the end of life.
The results of the study found that people who received Marie Curie Cancer Care were more likely to die at home than those who received standard care, and were less likely to use all forms of hospital care.
Read more on the impact of the Marie Curie Nursing Service on place of death and hospital use at the end of life
11 December 2012
The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network (NEoLCIN) has released a new version of the End of Life Care Quality Assessment (ELCQuA) tool.
The new version includes:
- 42 quality measures across the 16 NICE quality statements, plus a section on raising public awareness of death, dying and end of life care.
- Alignment of all measures to the NICE quality standard for end of life care.
- Alignment of quality measures, performance indicators and the red/amber/green (RAG) ratings for each.
- A mix of outcomes and process/structure indicators such the proportion of people approaching the end of life reporting that they are adequately supported to live independently and to maintain social participation.
- Specific quality measures for groups such as care homes, ambulance services and acute hospital trusts.
- Measures for patient reported outcomes.
The ELCQuA tool is designed to help a wide range of end of life care commissioners, providers and other stakeholders.
Download the Media release - ELCQuA launch
View the End of Life Care Quality Assessment (ELCQuA) Tool
View the End of Life ELCQuA - Flyer
10 December 2012
New research conducted by the British Red Cross has revealed that local authority cuts or frozen funding for preventative and lower-level social care are leaving the elderly and vulnerable at risk. And where cuts – of an average of 16% - have taken place, councillors are worried for the elderly and vulnerable in their local area.
The findings echo a new report by the Red Cross which concludes that preventative support services – such as home from hospital schemes, and care in the home – save taxpayers millions in reduced health costs.
Read more on the economic impact of care in the home services.
6 December 2012
The National End of Life Care Programme has an offer on its publications during the month of December. Larger quantities are now available free of charge to enable us to disseminate as much information as possible about end of life care to health and social care staff across the country.
For more information, seethePublications List.
15 November 2012
Updates and presentations from this conference, organised by the National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP) and held in London on 16 October, are now available on the NEoLCP website.
See End of Life Care Conference 2012.
9 November 2012
As the population ages the health and wellbeing of older people and the provision of services becomes ever more important. The West Midlands Public Health Observatory (WMPHO) on behalf of the Public Health Observatories in England has released the 2012 update of the Older People’s Health and Wellbeing Atlas. The atlas can be used to identify deficits in the health and care of older people and to highlight large variations between local authorities across England. The information will be of use to the wide range of organisations with an interest in the health and care of older people.
View the Older People’s Health and Wellbeing Atlas.
18 October 2012
The Marie Curie End of Life Care Atlas is a new information portal that gives people who plan and commission end of life care new insight into care provision in their local areas. The web-based mapping tool brings together a broad range of data on end of life care across the UK’s health landscape. The tool allows users to compare end of life care across areas as well as compare areas against national benchmarks across a range of key indicators.
View the Marie Curie Cancer Care website.
New Social Care TV Films launched on end of life care
17 October 2012
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has published three new Social Care TV films on the theme of end of life care:
- Coordination of care - This film looks at a pilot scheme that has effectively co-ordinated health and social care services
- Personalisation – the need to discuss death and dying – This film looks at a scheme which uses personalised care for people at the end of life, with the use of profiles to record likes, dislikes and preferences. The profile is shared with everyone involved in the persons care.
- Supporting staff in care homes – This film focuses on how care homes support staff to come to terms with the loss of people that they cared for.
View SCIE's End of Life Care Hub website.
16 October 2012
The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network in partnership with the Nuffield Trust has published a new end of life report, which builds on an earlier Nuffield Trust study to create and analyse what is believed to be the largest database of its kind to link health and social care datasets in England. The findings suggest that social care may help prevent hospital admission.
Download the media release.
16 October 2012
The National End of Life Care Programme recently celebrated the achievements and improvements made in end of life care at the, in the end, care counts: End of life care conference 2012 held in London.
The conference saw the launch of the Department of Health’s End of Life Care Strategy Fourth Annual Report by Norman Lamb MP, who also launched a new toolkit, on commissioning person-centred end of life care.
Also launched on the day was a new end of life care report and a range of tools and resources.
Read more on the End of life care conference.
25 September 2012
With just three weeks left to register for the conference 'In the end, care counts', taking place in Westminster on Tuesday 16th October, the National End of Life Care Programme is delighted that the Minister has made end of life care a priority.
Read more on the National End of Life Care Programme website and register for the conference.
17 September 2012
The UK end of life care Research Interest Group recognise the need for research to provide the evidence base to support the care of people at the end of life. Each organisation will aim to promote high quality research in end of life care, as a collective and individual, according strategies and working practices.
See the National Cancer Research Institute website for more information.
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