Sharing Current Scottish Practice

Bereavement can be a difficult process for people however evidence suggests that sharing experiences and feelings can help to lessen the effects on individuals. It is also known that people can struggle to access the right support at the right time following bereavement. Hospices are at the sharp end of caring for people who are dying and offering support to their families is a fundamental part of specialist palliative care. The patient and family support team at Accord Hospice consists of trained counsellors and volunteer bereavement support workers who proactively offer bereavement support and try to do so in innovative ways to meet the varying degrees of need of bereaved families within the local community. These services are offered both within Accord and off site at our outreach facility.

User experience feedback has been collected over the past 12 months. Collated results would appear to show there is definitive value to offering timely, appropriate and varied bereavement services from a skilled hospice based team. Many of the comments received from people would reinforce the evidence that suggests that support can lessen the effects of bereavement.

Children's Palliative Care in Scotland: the role of the Diana Children's Nurses

Harley D, Porter C, Reid F and Rodger E

Children's Hospice Association Scotland has employed three Diana Children's Nurses (DCNs) since 2014. They are financed through the treasury from funds set up by the government to commemorate the life and work of Diana Princess of Wales. The overarching aims of the roles are given in generic terms, encompassing strategic service development, direct and indirect clinical care, and staff training / support. The three individual roles, DCN West, East and North, focus on the specific remits of oncology and paediatric intensive care, neonates, and the community. They work within, and alongside, the NHS and other statutory and voluntary sectors to support babies, children, and young people (BCYP) with palliative care needs and their families across Scotland. This may be from the point of diagnosis or recognition, at any point through the journey, to end of life and bereavement. Their roles exemplify a holistic approach that recognises all the environments in which BCYP live their lives. More realistic choices for families can be better enabled through exploring changes to practice, whilst developing systems, skills and resources.

CNS model for identifying level of support/intervention needed for care homes

Barker L, Gardner H, Milton L and Stevenson B

Background: Continued support from palliative care specialists is recognised as a way to assist the sustained adoption of new systems and palliative care principles in care homes. (2, 3) Hospice community teams are well placed to support care homes to improve planning and delivery of palliative care. The community palliative nurse specialist team support 28 care homes by providing support to develop processes for identifying deterioration or dying, regular review of palliative care needs, education and specialist advice for individual residents.

Aim: This intervention builds on two previous projects aimed at increasing care home staff knowledge of palliative care practice and procedures, and how they can link together with other palliative care providers’.

Description: The challenges encountered especially with care home staff engagement influenced the importance of shaping any interventions to suit the needs of the individual care home.

An individual Care Home Profile and Algorithm (flowchart) was developed to assist the CNS to determine and agree, with the manager, a Level of CNS Intervention most appropriate and achievable for the individual care home.

Effects of Intervention: Issues such as staff turnover, engagement, and lack of GP resources are an on-going challenge when trying to change palliative care practice and procedures in care homes. Utilising the Care Home Profile and identifying a Level of Intervention has helped the CNS and manager to focus on the priorities for education and change in practice for each care home. Using this model has helped CNS to set achievable goals of intervention and therefore ensure their skills and times are being used appropriately.

Complex Communication Needs: Nursing the patient with Motor Neurone Disease

Alexander J and Kerr F

Case study of a hospice patient combined with a literature review to:

• establish what communication difficulties can be experienced by nursing staff caring for a patient with MND
• identify ways in which nurses can improve their knowledge of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to better care for this patient group
• identify assessment tools which can assisted with achieving the most appropriate AAC.