A recent bid to the Calderdale Innovation Fund has seen Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust secure funding of almost £260,000 to improve the palliative care pathway for Calderdale patients over the next two years.
Community Matron, Abbie Thompson, pictured middle, submitted the bid after working with key colleagues and agencies to support a combined collaborative multi-disciplinary, multi-agency approach in four key areas of palliative care.
Abbie said: “We worked closely together as we’re all committed to improving both the patient experience and their quality of life. We know we are already making huge strides in helping meet the needs of dying patients at home, and this funding will help us to take it even further.
“We’ll share key skills, knowledge and expertise and also strengthen our existing links and professional relationships within the local integrated care systems.”
The four areas of focus will be:
- Working with GPs to earlier identify patients who are likely to develop palliative care needs within the next 12 months.
- A new Hospital Palliative Care In-Reach Team. They will work closely with the existing Trust Specialist Palliative Care Team (SPCT) to help avoid admission to hospital as well as early discharge with extra support.
- Introduce a new Care Home Palliative Care Nurse. They will work alongside the existing Community SPCT and our QUEST Teams to proactively review patients in care homes with a palliative care diagnosis, supporting planning, symptom management and avoiding admission to hospital.
- Extend the existing Out of Hours palliative service working with Marie Curie. This follows a successful pilot of longer hours which identified significant improvements in meeting the needs of patients dying at home. This will begin early next month.
Colleagues and partners who worked with Abbie include Nurse Consultant for Elderly, Renee Comerford; Hospital Palliative Care Team Leader, Gemma Gordon; Overgate Hospice, Marie Curie and Calderdale GP, Helen Davies.