Just in case letter

Do you have patients who are approaching End-Of-Life?

Earlier identification of people nearing the end of their life and who have a Just in Case plan developed could lead to better co-ordinated care.

Even more reasons to develop ‘Just in Case’ plans currently: • changes to health system delivery, particularly in primary care • changes to the behaviour of patients seeking care • reduced services and family supports, especially Hospice services and separated bubbles • the potential for COVID-19 transmission as well as various winter-related illnesses I continue to hear from St John ambulance, how difficult it can be to enable patient-centred care for palliative patients. Their stories reflect the challenges in accessing appropriate care for end-of-life patients when a sudden change in condition or heightened social need occurs. In their experience, these presentations often fall outside the criteria of the hospice to respond to, with out-of-hours scenarios, and pandemic-related service changes only making this worse. Without a plan in place, it becomes very difficult for St John to follow the patient’s wishes.

Please consider developing Just in Case plans for more of your patients to provide them with a proactive action plan, ahead of any crisis. This way, your patients can be enabled to receive the right care at the right time, closer to home, with less worry for everyone involved.

I do want to acknowledge and thank the clinicians and admin staff from the number of practices who have developed action plans recently. These plans have been well developed and patient centred.

Thank you for the time and effort you have taken to do these, as well as for your constructive feedback. You are being heard, and changes and improvements will be developed in due course.

Funding is available for each Just in Case plan made with your patients and whanau. The templates and supporting resources can be found on the PHO Portal: portal.wboppho.org.nz (password with your PM). Click on latest practice updates → useful templates → Palliative Care.

For further support please email ruthm@wboppho.org.nz or call 021 935600.

Ruth McChesney, Acute Demand Specialist Nurse