Case study:

11 May 2010

Delivering Choice Programme in Lincolnshire, Leeds and Tayside, Scotland

Key points

Marie Curie Cancer Care is funding a three-year programme aimed at developing patient-focused 24-hour service models that offer the best possible care for all palliative care patients and enable everyone to choose where they die.

The programme currently operates three flagship projects, in Lincolnshire, Leeds and Tayside, Scotland.A further project in SE London has just been announced.

Each project is divided into three phases:

• Phase I: Understanding the current state of services
• Phase II: Designing new service models
• Phase III: Implementing and monitoring service models

All the projects aim to ensure:

• Best possible care for all palliative care patients
• Improvement in equity of access to services
• Appropriate support services for palliative care patients and their carers
• Choice in place of care and death is available to all
• Information on palliative care choice is available and known to all
• Improved co-ordination of care among service providers

The Delivering Choice Programme will also evaluate the economic impact on healthcare services of more patients receiving palliative care at home and disseminate findings to allow other providers to replicate successful models.

One of the keys to the project is working in partnership with local health and social care providers across public and voluntary sectors to design long-term sustainable solutions that serve local needs.

The Palliative and End-of-Life Care Research Group at Lancaster University is evaluating the programme.

In addition the King’s Fund is working collaboratively with the service to improve outcomes further and to assess the economic impact.

Marie Curie is currently developing a web-based toolkit, which can be used to support PCTs across the UK who wish to follow a similar approach.