Background To enable patients to safely remain in their preferred place of care (PPC) or death (PPD) and to maximise their independence within the limitations of their illness, specialist equipment may be needed.

Historically, hospice therapists had limited access to equipment which had been either bought by the hospice, or donated. To secure other equipment, lengthy reports were completed by hospice occupational therapists (OT) and then sent to the OT within one of 12 social services locality teams. They, in turn, ordered the equipment through Community Equipment Services (CES) on the hospice therapist’s behalf. This sometimes led to confusion and delays of equipment being delivered, resulting in patients not fulfilling their PPC/PPD.

Aim To have the means to provide equipment to patients in a timely fashion to support PPC/PPD.

Results Following three years of collaborative working with the Clinical Lead for Equipment, locality teams and Integrated Community Equipment Services (CES) across Surrey, a peripheral store is now on site at the hospice. This allows instant access to a range of equipment which can be immediately supplied to patients. To facilitate this, each OT and physiotherapist now has an individual PIN number. This new process increases the possibility of achieving a safe environment for PPC and PPD.

Conclusion This has led to the following benefits:

• Enabled more patients to achieve their PPC/PPD

• Supported patients to maximise their independence in their own environment

• Reduced administrative time for hospice and social services therapists

• Freed up time for increased face-to-face interventions

• Reduced delivery costs for social services locality teams

• Increased job satisfaction for hospice therapists.

Future development of this project will include:

• Negotiating with social service teams that are currently not involved in this collaborative working

• To resolve challenges in relation to Continuing Health Care funded provision of equipment.