Background and Content People with palliative and end of life care needs are dying for change. Therefore “to allow people the deaths they want, end of life care must be radically transformed” Garber and Leadbeater (2010).

Aim

• Develop models of compassionate communities allowing greater access to social and therapeutic hospice services.

Approach Used

• Organisational collaborative working with the inception of a Task & Finish Group.

• A questionnaire to find out what satellite services people want and where they want those services delivered.

• Discussion groups in GP surgeries, community centres, carers groups and existing support groups.

• Analysing the 165 returned questionnaires. The data will inform the direction of the initial pilot project.

Outcomes

• Develop a community based service supported by volunteers.

• Recruit, train and supervise a voluntary Empowered Living Team (ELT) to support hospice professionals in delivering care in the community through initiatives such as hand massage, physiotherapy rehabilitation programmes, supporting people to practice mindfulness techniques in their own homes with the support of a CD of relaxation techniques, guided meditations.

• The satellite will also offer a space for bereavement services to establish a community presence and a greater resource for the Community Palliative Care Teams (CPCT) to refer patients and family to.

Application to Hospice care We will demonstrate how by increasing access to hospice services through a compassionate community model more people will be able to:

• Discuss preferred place and type of care they receive

• Plan for their preferred place of death

• Reduce the fear of accessing hospice services such as planned respite, outpatient services

• Through community support decrease the amount of emergency admissions to A&E

• Increase the chances of families experiencing a well-planned and a good death.

• Access a greater variety of services by more partnership working.