A series of palliative care roadshows across the South Island is opening up dialogue on enhancing end-of-life care and providing an opportunity for health professionals to discuss survey results at a local level. “It’s about breaking down the barriers between services to become more integrated and patient-centred,” says South Island Alliance’s Palliative Care Workstream (PCW) Chair, Kate Grundy.
GPs, district nurses, aged residential care nurses and management, hospice staff, hospital teams, allied health and PHOs from across the spectrum have attended events in Nelson, Blenheim, Dunedin and Invercargill. Upcoming roadshow meetings will be held in West Coast, Timaru, Christchurch and Ashburton in November. The Workstream and interested stakeholders from around the region will then work to develop a plan for regional and local actions.
The main focus is on the provision of integrated palliative care – with attention given to any innovations and developments, as well as the gaps and challenges, using reports from recent regional palliative care surveys to drive the discussion. The surveys were carried out to learn about the status of palliative care across the South Island and what progress has been made towards the implementation of the Resource and Capability Framework for Adult and Palliative Care Services in New Zealand (2013).Feedback on the roadshows has been very positive, says Kate, who led the roadshows. “One of the hospice teams commented that the discussion on specialist versus primary palliative care was the best they had ever had, and useful in helping them to understand the bigger picture and what’s needed in the future upcoming roadshow events.”
Dr Beth Morgan, of Hospice Marlborough, attended the roadshow in Blenheim and says Kate did a monumental job of delivering a 30,000 foot view of palliative medicine. “She has a real ability to clearly explain data and the ‘face’ of palliative care shows through in her enthusiasm and expertise/history in the field. All and all, it was a very worthwhile experience.”Kate says it’s a great chance for health professionals to network and discuss not only the challenges, but also talk about what aspects of care are working well. “We’re looking forward to the remaining meetings, culminating in bringing people together from around the region to consider all the ideas discussed and formulate a plan to drive quality improvement changes, locally and regionally.”
Christchurch: 22 November, 5.30-7.30pm at McDougall House, Nurse Maude, 24 McDougall Ave Ashburton: 23 November, 12.30- 1pm, Museum Room, Ashburton HospitalChristchurch: Final round-up and planning day, 4 December, 11am-3pm, Hinton’s Function CentreSee the palliative care survey results here
