Introduction A Marie Curie review¹ highlighted that the Jewish population, alongside Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups, are under-represented in utilising palliative care.² Explanations may include concerns around gaining trust and being culturally understood. Preferred Place of Death (PPoD) has been used as a key performance indicator (KPI) for measuring effective palliative care.

Aim To establish a palliative care outreach clinic in a faith-based setting and subsequently evaluate patient experience and measure the KPI of PPoD.

Methods In 2011 a cancer charity supporting the Jewish community, in collaboration with Marie Curie and The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, developed a palliative care clinic, serving an area with a large Jewish population. The clinic runs weekly. A palliative care consultant sees and discusses all patients at the Marie Curie multidisciplinary team meeting. Data was collected via anonymous semi-structured patient experience survey in 2013 and 2016 and all patients are offered Advance Care Planning, including PPoD. Actual place of death has been recorded for all deceased patients.

Results 39 patients completed the survey. 100% rated the service ‘excellent’ or ‘good’

In 2016, 17 patients in the service died. 13 achieved their PPoD (76%).

Conclusion Achieving a 76% PPoD contrasts with the London average of 38.1% deaths in usual place of residence.³ This demonstrates the success of a faith based service catering for a traditionally ‘hard to reach’ population and represents a unique model within the United Kingdom. This model could be extended to other faith based communities to broaden access to palliative care.

References 1. https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/globalassets/media/documents/policy/policy-publications/june-2013/palliative-and-end-of-life-care-for-black-asian-and-minority-ethnic-groups-in-the-uk.pdf

2. Dorff E. End of Life; Jewish Perspectives. The Lancet 2005;366:862–5

3. https://www.endoflifecare.org.uk/data_sources/place_of_death