Contacts
Contact:
Wendy Freeman
Hospice at Home Nurse Manager and EOL coordinator
Organisation:
Isabel Hospice
Queen Elizabeth II Hospital Howlands Welwyn Garden City Hertfordshire AL7 4HQ United Kingdom
Tel:
01707 373356
Email:
Case study:
16 August 2007
Hospice at Home in Isabel Hospice - prevention of admission to hospital in the last days/hours of life
Key points
- Isabel Hospice has launched a scheme to ensure that patients in the last days of life are not admitted to hospital and are able to die in their preferred place of care
- The scheme currently applies to all patients in East Herts who are referred to Isabel Hospice
Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City is leading a coordinated initiative to ensure patients are prevented from being admitted to hospital in the last days or hours of their life.
The scheme, which works to Gold Standards Framework and End of Life Care guidance, also involves rapid discharges from the hospice or hospital to the patient’s preferred place of care.
The initiative currently covers all adults in East Herts who have a terminal end stage illness and have been referred to the service.
It is hoped eventually to roll it out to include care homes in the area.
Carrying out the scheme has involved close working with the local PCTs, GPs, district nurses and care homes.
In addition a new Clinical Nurse Specialist post has been funded to cover the nursing Homes in the East Herts area for education and support around EOL issues.
The hospice has also appointed a care review co-ordinator to speed up discharges for terminal patients whose preferred place of care is home.
The organisers have faced challenges because of the differences of awareness in the area of end of life issues and the Gold Standards Framework.
Out of hours services are also disjointed across the area while time and resources are always at a premium.
The solution has been to use the knowledge and skills that exist and build on these.
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