During June 2016, the CEEU's End of Life Care audit team held four regional quality improvement workshops in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Leeds.
The aims of the events were to meet the following objectives:
- Present the key messages from the national audit and how this relates to local practice
- Provide examples of the processes behind the achievement of good practice
- Using discussion forums enable delegates to identify personal and local actions needed to improve practice.
The workshops, presented by Professor Sam Ahmedzai (Medical School, University of Sheffield) at Birmingham and Bristol; and by Dr David Brooks (Macmillan Consultant in Palliative Medicine in Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Ashgate Hospice) at London and Leeds, involved discussion on communication with patients; communication with relatives; symptom control and individualised care planning.
At each workshop two trusts presented how they achieved the audit quality indicators. The trusts at each event were:
- Birmingham - Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sandwell West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
- Bristol – Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
- London – Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Leeds – South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Discussing the workshops, Dr Brooks said:
The QI workshops provided a useful supportive forum to be able to explore the challenges of improving care in the last days of life, the tension between promoting individualisation of care and being prescriptive enough to ensure all the essential care is provided. It was a great opportunity to learn from each other.
Professor Ahmedzai added:
The Royal College of Physicians regional workshops gave opportunities for showcasing how providers and commissioners had absorbed the national and local data from the audits and were already implementing quality improvement changes. It was impressive to see the range of ways that services could work together to build on the feedback and experience. In this time of restricted finances, it's good to see that innovations aimed at providing better end of life care are still emerging.