Background How is data used to really understand the service that we provide, help target service delivery and assist the development of a clinical strategy to enhance care provision?

Aims Review historical data for gaps in service provision. Identify meaningful data to inform hospice strategy and vision of supporting more people, earlier. Monitor, benchmark our progress and share with staff.

Method We undertook a review of historical data and health needs analysis to identify gaps in service provision. Analysis showed a diverse palliative service user population with patients being referred late in their diagnosis and a small cohort of non-cancer patient referrals, highlighting a gap in specialist palliative intervention. With OACC measures fully embedded in clinical practice, we asked how patient reported outcomes could be used to improve patient care and reflected on IPOS scores quarterly, which showed patients scoring highly in relation to the psychological impact of their illness. We introduced specialist link nurses and expanded our day services to encourage early referrals; a daily morning community meeting to identify, discuss and prioritise those patients with an unstable phase of illness and increased provision of psychological and spiritual support in our family support team.

Results Increased non-cancer referrals into the hospice from 19% to 40%; reduction of cancer patients dying within one month of referral from 39% to 35%; 10% reduction in the percentage of patients scoring severely or overwhelmingly for psychological concerns at the end of spell of care; 18 day average for a patient to move from unstable to stable phase following CNS intervention.

Conclusion Clinical data acts as a vital tool for identifying where action may be needed to address gaps in care delivery. Sharing these outcomes with clinical managers and staff helps everyone to understand the importance of accurate and meaningful data.