The Department of Health’s response to Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Health – Access to Palliative Care Services
Report on access to palliative care services acknowledges growing demand for palliative care, highlights ongoing improvements through the Palliative Care in Partnership Programme, recognises continuing challenges in service coordination and planning and commits to addressing the Committee’s recommendations within the context of wider health system reform and available resources.
Palliative and End-of-Life Care Competency Assessment Tool
The Competency Assessment Tool has been developed by a multidisciplinary group, currently practicing within the Health & Social Care Trusts, the independent and the voluntary sector within Northern Ireland. The competencies within the tool can be interpreted and applied across the range of sectors, settings and disciplines which provide palliative and end-of-life care. They are inclusive of all adult populations, regardless of diagnosis, culture or need. The Assessment Tool will assist individuals to build on the skills they already have, shaping professional practice in accordance with the document Living Matters: Dying Matters, a Strategy for Palliative and End of Life Care for Adults in Northern Ireland (Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety, 2010).
A Good Death – Office of the Ombudsman
The Ombudsman report, “A Good Death” highlights complaints received by the Ombudsman relating to end of life care, in a series of reflections on common themes. The report focuses on opportunities for learning and improvement particularly with regard to difficulties associated with communication regarding end of life care. The Ombudsman’s Casebook is a quarterly report summarising complaints received. A Good Death: Progress Report 2018 was published September 2018 on developments in End of Life Care in Irish Hospitals since the publication of the Ombudsman’s report in 2014.
National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) – Fourth Round
The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) in Northern Ireland was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, on behalf of the Regional Palliative Care in Partnership Programme.
Northern Ireland Assembly’s Committee for Health Report on Access to Palliative Care Services
The Assembly’s Health Committee has launched a report into the findings of its Inquiry on Access to Palliative Care Services in Northern Ireland. Link also includes the Department of Health’s response.
HSE Clinical governance and operational arrangements for supporting a model of care for children with life limiting conditions towards the end of life in the community in Ireland
This document concludes the work of an Expert Advisory Group established by the Chief Clinical Officer of the HSE to set out an operational and governance framework for palliative care for children with life limiting conditions in the community. It sets out the current approach to care, limitations within the service and the proposed model for both operational and clinical governance.
Reports for New Adult Palliative Care Policy
The Department of Health conducted a public consultation and commissioned two preparatory reports in preparation for the National Adult Palliative Care Policy 2024
Rewilding healthcare by cultivating relational systems to reimagine palliative care
Rewilding Healthcare by Cultivating Relational Systems, is a new report by Dr Sarah Yardley, UCL researcher and Churchill Fellow. It calls for a major rethink of how palliative care is designed and delivered for people with complex mental health needs.
Palliative Care Week Reports
Annual Reports detailing the impact of AIIHPC’s annual Palliative Care Week campaign.
Together for Short Lives
Together for Short Lives report, published in June, ‘Vital care, fragile funding: why children’s hospices can’t keep filling the gap‘ shines a light on the growing financial pressures that children’s hospices are under, and provides a series of targeted recommendations for governments across the UK.