Introduction The palliative care and homelessness co-ordinator is a new clinical role supporting the homeless population and the professionals involved in their end-of-life care. It was created to improve access to this care by working to identify patients sooner and improve communication across services.

Aims The evaluation aimed to:

• explore what difference the palliative care and homelessness project made to the knowledge and working practices of people working in homelessness services.

• Identify the difference the project made to people who are homeless having access to palliative care when they need it.

Methods

• Eight semi-structured interviews with professionals who have worked within the Liverpool Palliative Care Project.

• One focus group with five hostel workers who were supported by the project to look after residents at end of life.

• One semi-structured interview with a client.

MethodsInterviews were analysed thematically.

Results Data analysis is ongoing but key themes to date are:

• improved communication and relationships between professionals

• improved confidence of the professionals involved

• reduced barriers to end of life care for those who are homeless

Conclusions The evaluation provides evidence that the homelessness co-ordinator project is improving the support that professionals can provide to those who are homeless and needing end of life care. It has allowed for more advance care plans and discussions with people who are homeless about their preferences for care at the end of their life.

Impact The service has improved multi-agency working for professionals who are supporting people who are homeless and in need of end-of-life care. By bringing professionals together to discuss patients, Marie Curie and GPs have been able to work jointly to pull in multi-agency support at hostels where patients are living. In some cases, the project has supported individuals to die at a hospice, when this has been their preferred place of death.