NHS Borders and Marie Curie announce palliative care improvement project

Marie Curie Cancer Care and NHS Borders are working together on a project to look at ways of improving existing care and support for terminally ill people and their families in the Scottish Borders.
 
The Scottish Borders Palliative care needs assessment project is a six month project which will involve:

• an analysis of current service arrangements to inform future changes.
• talking to service users and providers to find out what works and what could be improved on.
• looking at population and disease statistics and projections for the local area to assess current and future needs.
• a review of recent evidence of good practice in providing care and support for terminally ill people and their families.

On 28 October, 40 local healthcare staff were invited to attend a consultation event at the Borders General Hospital to identify what service provision is presently available as well as discussing the current challenges faced in the provision of palliative care throughout the Scottish Borders. Future consultations will be undertaken to develop these ideas and look for solutions. 

Leading the project is Project Officer Marianne Ward who is based at the Borders General Hospital. She is supported by a project board led by Dr Annabel Howell, Locum Consultant in Palliative Care and Lead Clinician in Cancer Services at NHS Borders.

Currently around 900 people every year in the Scottish Borders require palliative care and support[1]. The project has been prompted by an increasing demand for services and a desire to find a smarter way to spend and allocate palliative care resources. In the future, more people will be living with long-term health conditions and multiple illnesses. By 2037, it’s predicted that there will be 21,610 people over the age of 75 in the Borders, a growth of 95% which is well above the Scottish national average of 82%.[2]

Dr Annabel Howell said: “There is an increasing demand for palliative care and in order to ensure we use the resources we have to best benefit the people of the Borders, Marie Curie are working with NHS Borders to provide the background information. We need to find innovative ways to provide more palliative care within our current budget. We all have a vested interest in the project and we or our families may require their services in the future”
 
Project Officer Marianne Ward adds: “It’s important that care for people with a terminal illness, and their families, is the best that it can be. We’ve already had some positive conversations with local healthcare staff about what good palliative care looks like and are looking forward to gathering more feedback as the project progresses.”

The project team will also consider a number of previously identified issues, including:

• Improving access to care, irrespective of where people live or what illness they have
• Optimal use of resources to help patients remain at home or as close to home as possible, reducing the need for unnecessary hospital admission
• Provision and role of community services and in-patient facilities, including the role of specialist palliative care teams
• Planning and providing care and support for people with more than one illness that involves two or more areas of specialist nursing or medical care
• Understanding and meeting the needs of families and carers in the community through respite care, training and support, and befriending and bereavement services
• Education and training for health and social care staff so they are skilled in caring for and supporting people at the end of their lives

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