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BHF - Heart failure patients to get better end of life care
End of life care for heart failure patients in Glasgow and Clyde will be improved thanks to the launch of a new initiative.
British Heart Foundation Scotland, Marie Curie Cancer Care and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are developing an innovative approach to palliative care for heart failure patients in hospital, hospices, care homes and at home.
‘Caring Together’ is a five year programme which aims to improve quality and access to care for local heart failure patients with palliative care needs, as well as giving patients choice in their place of care by improving co-ordination of care among healthcare providers.
Heart failure is one of the most prevalent conditions in Scotland, with an estimated 100,000 people currently living with this condition. Many heart failure patients have unmet palliative care needs.
Our chief executive, Peter Hollins, said: “Compared with most cancer patients, people with heart failure often have poorer symptom control and quality of life, and limited access to palliative and social care services.
"The disease progression and prognosis for such patients varies significantly. We’re delighted to be working with our two partners in Caring Together and we believe this programme really will make a difference to the lives of people with heart failure, their families and carers.”
- Developing ways of identifying heart failure patients entering the palliative care phase and providing a comprehensive assessment of their needs
- Completion of a management and anticipatory care plan in discussion with the patient and appropriate to patient condition and context
- Identification and allocation of a care manager who will be responsible for managing the care of the patient
- An approach to multidisciplinary working
- A learning and development plan in order to support clinical staff in providing palliative care to this group of patients.
Based on these core elements, the programme aims to develop models that will provide seamless care. These will be piloted in three areas - North-East Glasgow, Inverclyde and South-West Glasgow - before being independently evaluated, prior to roll out across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The evaluation and research of these models will be used to build recommendations for how care can be improved elsewhere in Scotland as well as the rest of the UK.
Thomas Hughes-Hallett, Chief Executive at Marie Curie Cancer Care, said: “Good quality palliative and end of life care is vital for patients, families and carers. At the heart of this is enabling people to choose how and where they are cared for but more needs to be done to make sure everyone, regardless of diagnosis, has access to the highest quality of care, in the place of their choice.”
This programme really will make a difference to the lives of people with heart failure
Caring Together is a programme jointly funded by us and Marie Curie Cancer Care, and we're each investing £1.8 million.
Anne Harkness, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Executive Lead for Palliative Care and Chair of Programme Board, said: “This innovative partnership approach will produce pioneering palliative care for patients with advanced heart failure.
“It is a sad fact that more people die from heart disease in Glasgow and the surrounding area than anywhere else in the UK so this is a natural location to develop palliative care for these patients.
“An estimated 10,000 people have heart failure in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and around 13 per cent of a heart failure specialist nurse’s caseload will have palliative care needs.
“This is an opportunity to better understand the needs of heart failure patients at the end of life and how we can offer them the physical, emotional and social support that they and their families need.”
