Speaking at the event in Westminster, Help the Hospices Chairman Lord Howard described the new proposal as “a groundbreaking initiative by the hospice movement to transform the experiences people have at the end of their life.”
As reported in ehospice, the national hospice charity aims to cut the number of people dying in hospital by 50,000 each year, which could generate savings of up to £80 million per year for the NHS, as well as ensuring higher quality, better targeted care for dying people.
A panel of expert speakers at the launch offered their professional insight into the realities of working with hospitals to provide a choice for people facing the end of life. One of those speakers was Nigel Harding, Chief Executive at Woking and Sam Beare Hospices.
The hospice leader offered an example of a successful hospital collaboration programme that is taking place right now, and the key theme was about building strong relationships. Here is a summary of the project:
A case study
Four years ago Woking and Sam Beare Hospices donated consultant time to support the palliative care team based at Ashford & St Peter’s main hospital. Ashford & St Peter’s had about 1000 hospital deaths per year and it was recognised that for many of these patients this was not the right environment.
“Clearly there were people dying at the hospital that would probably have a much better and more satisfactory death if they could be discharged out into the hospice,” says Chief Executive, Nigel Harding.
This voluntary time ensured that relationships were built between the hospice consultant and the hospital consultants – something which the patients and the delivery of hospice care are benefiting from hugely four years on.
Following this initial collaboration, the hospice first approached what was the Primary Care Trust (now the local Clinical Commissioning Group), before deciding to take a more direct route and got in touch with the Chief Executive and Medical Director of hospital.
“We went with a proposal that we would donate more consultant time to work with their team and also have two designated beds within the hospice. Those designated beds would be in effect almost a sub-ward of the hospital itself,” says Nigel.
“Discharges – once a patient was identified – could be quick and easy and once a patient came to us, the family could gain all of the other support services available to them at the hospice, such as bereavement care.”
In the first 12 months the hospice had approximately 75 deaths in these designated beds. Nigel says that the duration of patient’s admissions were initially very short, “in fact we had stays as short as a couple of days. But the satisfaction from family members was huge,” he adds.
In terms of Ashford & St Peter’s itself, the hospital has benefitted in huge financial savings.
The bed tariff at the hospital is approximately £300 per night per patient, but Woking and Sam Beare Hospices negotiated charging a rate of £160 per night for each of the two designated beds.
“They are saving a lot of money,” says Nigel. “In other words, savings to NHS in the first 12 months is approaching £200,000 already on this very small scale,” he added.
But at the forefront of this service is not the financial implications, but the benefit to the patients and their families.
“Satisfaction numbers are huge,” says Nigel. “As a hospice we get patted on the back quite a lot, but the feedback going to the hospital itself has been absolutely superb.”
The Chief Executive shared some of the feedback the hospital has received:
“Your intervention that morning was wonderful. Being able to get dad into the hospice just made the process of his death so much easier. He was comfortable, no pain, and the hospice staff were all very fond of him.”
“We’re immensely grateful to you for helping our mother to live out the last few days as peacefully as possible. It was a great support and comfort to have your guidance.”
The key to the success of this programme had been the relationships according to Nigel. “Our consultant had built up relationships with their consultants and now there is great confidence between the hospice and the hospital teams,” he concludes.
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