Action 5.16 states
The health service organisation providing end-of-life care has processes to provide clinicians with access to specialist palliative care advice
Intent
Clinicians can access advice from specialist palliative care clinicians when planning and delivering end-of-life care.
Reflective question
How do clinicians gain access to specialist palliative care advice?
Key tasks
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Develop agreements with local palliative care providers to enable access to specialist palliative care advice.
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Develop processes for clinicians to access specialist palliative care advice.
Strategies for improvement
Hospitals
Although many clinicians may regularly be involved in providing care to patients approaching the end of their life, this is the core business of specialist palliative care clinicians. If a patient has unmet physical, psychosocial or spiritual care needs at the end of life, specialist palliative care involvement can improve quality of life. Gain access to specialist palliative care advice by:
- Referring a patient to specialist palliative care
- Seeking a consultation from a palliative care specialist
- Seeking informal advice to help manage the patient.
If the health service organisation has an on-site specialist palliative care service, work with that service to develop processes to enable clinicians to seek advice. This may include a process for accessing informal advice from a specialist palliative care doctor or nurse, or developing formal referral guidelines.
If the health service organisation does not have a specialist palliative care service, develop agreements to seek advice from, and make referrals to, specialist palliative care providers in nearby health services or in the community.
In some cases, specialist palliative care advice may be limited to telephone support or videoconferencing. Such advice can be a source of primary information or a valuable sounding board to help make decisions about a patient’s management. Develop clear guidelines indicating when and how to seek such advice.
Day Procedure Services
This action will not be applicable for most day procedure services. It is unlikely that day procedure services will be providing care to patients at the end of life because of the nature of the service and pre-admission screening.
Refer to the hospitals tab for detailed implementation strategies and examples of evidence for this action.
MPS & Small Hospitals
Although many clinicians may regularly be involved in providing care to patients approaching the end of their life, this is the core business of specialist palliative care clinicians. If a patient has unmet physical, psychosocial or spiritual care needs at the end of life, specialist palliative care involvement can improve quality of life. Gain access to specialist palliative care advice by:
- Referring a patient to specialist palliative care
- Seeking a consultation from a palliative care specialist
- Seeking informal advice to help manage the patient.
If the health service organisation does not have a specialist palliative care service, develop agreements to seek advice from, and make referrals to, specialist palliative care providers in nearby health service organisations or in the community.
For small hospitals and MPSs, specialist palliative care advice may be limited to telephone support or videoconferencing. Such advice can be a source of primary information or a valuable sounding board to help make decisions about a patient’s management. Develop clear guidelines indicating when and how to seek such advice.
Hospitals
Although many clinicians may regularly be involved in providing care to patients approaching the end of their life, this is the core business of specialist palliative care clinicians. If a patient has unmet physical, psychosocial or spiritual care needs at the end of life, specialist palliative care involvement can improve quality of life. Gain access to specialist palliative care advice by:
- Referring a patient to specialist palliative care
- Seeking a consultation from a palliative care specialist
- Seeking informal advice to help manage the patient.
If the health service organisation has an on-site specialist palliative care service, work with that service to develop processes to enable clinicians to seek advice. This may include a process for accessing informal advice from a specialist palliative care doctor or nurse, or developing formal referral guidelines.
If the health service organisation does not have a specialist palliative care service, develop agreements to seek advice from, and make referrals to, specialist palliative care providers in nearby health services or in the community.
In some cases, specialist palliative care advice may be limited to telephone support or videoconferencing. Such advice can be a source of primary information or a valuable sounding board to help make decisions about a patient’s management. Develop clear guidelines indicating when and how to seek such advice.
Day Procedure Services
This action will not be applicable for most day procedure services. It is unlikely that day procedure services will be providing care to patients at the end of life because of the nature of the service and pre-admission screening.
Refer to the hospitals tab for detailed implementation strategies and examples of evidence for this action.
MPS & Small Hospitals
Although many clinicians may regularly be involved in providing care to patients approaching the end of their life, this is the core business of specialist palliative care clinicians. If a patient has unmet physical, psychosocial or spiritual care needs at the end of life, specialist palliative care involvement can improve quality of life. Gain access to specialist palliative care advice by:
- Referring a patient to specialist palliative care
- Seeking a consultation from a palliative care specialist
- Seeking informal advice to help manage the patient.
If the health service organisation does not have a specialist palliative care service, develop agreements to seek advice from, and make referrals to, specialist palliative care providers in nearby health service organisations or in the community.
For small hospitals and MPSs, specialist palliative care advice may be limited to telephone support or videoconferencing. Such advice can be a source of primary information or a valuable sounding board to help make decisions about a patient’s management. Develop clear guidelines indicating when and how to seek such advice.