Case study:

11 May 2010

Arrangements for the supply of palliative care medicines in South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust and Dorset Cancer Network

Key points

South Western Ambulance Trust has combined with Dorset Cancer Network to develop a service to ensure the easy access and availability of palliative care drugs for all patients in the community.

One of the chief aims is to ensure palliative care patients and their carers receive a rapid response when calling the service out of hours.

The service provides the contact details of local pharmacies that stock a full range of palliative care medication from an agreed formulary.

There will also be a clear and easy default arrangement enabling patients to access palliative care drugs.

This will be spelt out for each locality.

It is also intended to provide health care professionals with the information and educational support needed to encourage anticipatory prescribing for this group of patients.

This will increase understanding of which drug(s) to use and how to prescribe them to best effect.

The service aims to reduce the difficulties experienced by carers in obtaining supplies of palliative care medication.

Prescribers will be encouraged to ensure patients or their relatives seek a regular supply of their medications.

They will also be asked to plan in advance for increased medication demand, particularly at weekends and public holidays.

Some practices may support the ‘Just in Case’ service where staff keep a box of agreed drugs for urgent use by palliative care patients.

It is hoped that community pharmacists will become more involved in palliative patients’ care.

They are to be invited to attend GPs’ Gold Standard Framework meetings and will be encouraged to keep a small range of immediately necessary medications for patients in their last days of life.

Meanwhile selected pharmacies across Dorset will be funded to provide an enhanced service for the provision of palliative care drugs during ordinary opening hours and to ensure adequate arrangements are made for their supply out of hours.

Making the appropriate drugs available to patients in their own home or place of care will improve symptom control and reduce inappropriate hospital admissions.

It should also mean improved safety for patients, their carers and relatives, the public and health care professionals.

Plans are already under way to extend the project, currently operating across Dorset, to the whole area covered by the ambulance trust.