CASE STUDY
We know about
end of life
care
Specialist staff are able to provide care to those patients with the
greatest need.
Lincolnshire
Innovation through partnership working Marie Curie Cancer Care has worked closely with St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice for many years. The partnership currently works in an integrated way to provide 24/7 specialist and generalist support to patients across the county. Marie Curie delivers both community nursing and rapid response services, while St Barnabas provides in-patient beds and specialist hospice at home care. This close relationship has enabled a service improvement innovation that has helped reshape the way palliative care is delivered in Lincolnshire to ensure patients receive the right level of specialist support for their needs.
The challenge • Lack of a standard, shared patient assessment framework made it difficult to ensure that the right level of care was going to the right patient at the right time. This meant patients were being referred by district nurses for the maximum care package, which wasn’t always necessary or the most effective option. Patients with complex needs (in • receipt of continuing healthcare (CHC) funding) were primarily supported by agencies booked on a night-by-night basis which sometimes resulted in a lack of continuity and varying standards of care. Meanwhile specialist staff at Marie Curie and St Barnabas were sometimes asked to deliver care to patients with lower level care needs (not eligible for CHC funding). These patients tended to be stable and mainly required respite support.
CASE STUDY
The partnership has helped reshape the way
palliative care is delivered in Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire
The service solution Partners worked within the existing service and funding framework to make more effective use of the resources to hand and developed an assessment tool. Partners included Marie Curie, St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, NHS Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire Community Healthcare Services NHS Trust. Now clinicians use the tool to accurately describe a patient’s needs and the urgency of response required. Clinicians work collaboratively and cooperate across organisations, supported by a clinically led palliative care coordination centre at St Barnabas. The tool ensures staff with the right level of skills are allocated to patients according to the level of care they need. As a result, specialist staff can provide care to those patients with the greatest need. Service benefits • Patients are able to access care from specialist staff. • Anecdotal feedback so far suggests relatives and clinicians both value the service. A full pilot evaluation report will be produced that will inform future commissioning and provision of responsive palliative care services in the community.
Contact servicedevelopment@mariecurie.org.uk mariecurie.org.uk/commissioning
Charity reg no. 207994 (England & Wales), SC038731 (Scotland) S276h_Casestudy_Lincolnshire
“St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice has worked closely with Marie Curie for over seven years, initially as part of the first Delivering Choice Programme. Through this project we developed a strong partnership that created the foundation for our long-lasting relationship of working together with colleagues throughout Marie Curie to support the development of local services.” Sarah-Jane Mills, Chief Executive, St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice “We value our relationship with St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice very highly. It has given us the opportunity to jointly innovate and develop palliative and end of life care services across Lincolnshire.” Amanda Burn, Regional Manager, Marie Curie Nursing Service