Case study:

02 August 2007

Keep Improving the Experience (KITE) – Primary care practice accreditation (standards for cancer and palliative care) in the Northern Cancer Network

Key points

The Northern Cancer Network is in the process of rolling out a set of standards aimed at improving palliative care across 350 practices in Northumberland.

The introduction of KITE seeks to share good practice and encourage standardisation of processes and systems.

Developed as part of Northumberland’s practice accreditation scheme, a pilot took place in four practices.

Following a review of the pilots, funding was sought from Macmillan Cancer Relief to support the rollout.

The scheme involves the issue of KITE (‘Keep Improving the Experience’) self-assessment books which practices complete and which serve as a baseline.

A local project lead is appointed in each locality to coordinate results and a verification team then verifies the practice’s processes and standards.

Once fully operational the scheme will allow for baseline assessment of palliative care across the patch as well as sharing good practice and promoting continuous quality and service improvement.

It will also help to identify specific education and training needs and help to highlight gaps and inequalities in service planning.

Comments from healthcare professionals involved in the scheme include:

‘Made the team formalise their meetings and identify palliative care for their agenda.’ ‘Made the team focus on support for patients with cancer and/or their palliative care support needs.’‘There has been a changed of practice since completion of the self- accreditation book and before the verification visit.’‘May well consider palliative care for audit in the future, not prioritised before the accreditation.’

There have inevitably been some problems in introducing the standards.

There are alternative national standards, for instance, while others want to develop their own standards.

It has also sometimes been a challenge to find the right coordinator in each locality.

It is now planned to re-audit the Northumberland practices and to develop the documentation for use in care homes and community hospitals.

Pilot phases have already been completed.