Abstract

This project, supported by a grant from West Midlands Workforce Deanery, is working with PCT commissioners and IT department, Primary Care, Hospice services and the regional Cancer centre to pilot an End of Life “significant conversations” template. This is available via the Summary Care Record to any acute service providing care to an EoL patient across South Birmingham; West Midlands ambulance, Primecare OOH services, PCT drop in centres and the Accident and Emergency department.

Patients do not want to have to give the same information over and over again and yet the Gold Standards Framework, Holistic Needs Assessment, Preferred Priorities of Care and Liverpool Care Pathway documents all cover similar ground again and again. No pilot of any nationally recommended “pathway” document, has so far seriously addressed the need for information to travel with the patient. Patient held records though trialled in some areas have the ever present problem of being forgotten or lost and so often lead to clinical staff having to duplicate their clinical entries.

Bury and Bolton both piloted the use of an End of Life template with one GP system using the functionality of the Summary Care Record. This pilot project takes the template a leap further by working across four GP systems (potentially covering over 95% of patients nationally). “Significant conversations” data can be collected in primary care, hospital and hospice settings. Daily automatic transfer of data back to the patients' primary care record ensures the GP is kept up to date and that the SCR record remains current for use by any service providing ongoing or acute care to patients.

Due to complete in November 2011. The proposed poster will outline details of the project scope, data being collected and technical solutions utilised.