Dying well at home: the case for integrated working

Resources

General practitioners

• End of life care patient charter (2011)

Housing

• End of life care in extra care housing: Learning resource pack for housing, care and support staff (2012). This resource pack, published by the National End of Life Care Programme and the Housing Learning and Improvement Network, and prepared by the International Longevity Centre, covers topics ranging from initial conversations and care planning through to the things that staff might be expected to do after a death.
• Is it that time already? Extra care housing at the end of life: A policy-into-practice evaluation (2008)

Integration

• Developing end of life care practice: A guide to workforce development to support social care and health workers to apply the common core principles and competences for end of life care (2012)
• Supporting people to live and die well: A framework for social care at the end of life (2010)

Macmillan Cancer Support

Macmillan Cancer Support provides practical, medical and financial support for people with cancer and also campaigns for better cancer care. The ‘Learn Zone’ provides free and easy access to a wide variety of learning resources, online courses and professional development tools for health and social care practitioners and volunteers.

Marie Curie Cancer Care

Marie Curie Cancer Care provides information and advice for people with life-limiting illnesses and their families as well as contacts for nurses who can support terminally ill people who choose to die at home. There is information for commissioners on service design and innovative approaches to local care provision. Useful reports include:

• Committed to carers: Supporting carers of people at the end of life (2012)
• Being cared for at home towards the end of life: What to expect when approaching death (2010)

National Council for Palliative Care

The National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) is the umbrella charity for all those involved in palliative, end of life and hospice care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It believes that everyone approaching the end of life has the right to the highest quality care and support, wherever they live, and whatever their condition. It works with government, health and social care staff and people with personal experience to improve end of life care for all.

The charity produces practical guidance, training materials and a quarterly magazine – Inside Palliative Care – and runs conferences and workshops for people at the end of life and those who care for them. It also runs an extensive training programme and undertakes policy and campaigning work.

National End of Life Care Programme

The following publications are not referenced in the text, but may be useful:

• Optimising the role and value of the interdisciplinary team: Providing person-centred end of life care (2013)
• Improving end of life care through early recognition of need: Exploring the potential for using predictive modelling in identifying end of life care needs (2013)
• Advance decisions to refuse treatment: A guide for health and social care professionals (updated 2013)
• Advance care planning: It all ADSE up (2012)
• Making the case for change: Electronic palliative care co-ordination systems (2012)
• Reviewing end of life care costing information to inform the QIPP End of Life Care Workstream (2012)

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

• Quality Standard for End of Life Care for Adults (QS 13) (2011)
• NHS Choices – End of life care guide

Occupational therapy

• The route to success in end of life care: Achieving quality for occupational therapy (2011)

Specialist care

• Commissioning guidance for specialist palliative care: Helping to deliver commissioning objectives (2012). This was developed in collaboration with the Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland, Consultant Nurse in Palliative Care Reference Group, Marie Curie Cancer Care, National Council for Palliative Care and Palliative Care Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Spirituality

• Spirituality and ageing: Implications for the care and support of older people (2013)
• Merseyside & Cheshire Cancer Network offers an overview of religious practice, which health and social care practitioners working with people from diverse cultures may find useful.