End of Life Care
End of Life Care UK Wide Working Group Strategy
The RCGP End of Life Care (EOLC) UK Wide
Working Group recently created an End of Life Care Strategy
Document to affirm that end of life care is now a matter of
priority for the College and will be integrated into many
areas of future work.
The strategy followed extensive
consultation and contains ten specific recommendations. To view
the
The RCGP End of Life Care Strategy, please
click
here. The work of the RCGP End of Life Care UK Working Group is
only just beginning and the strategy is an important first
step to reflecting the crucial role that GPs play in end
of life care now and in the future.
To support and inform the work of the RCGP UK working group,
local sub groups have been established in each of the four
countries.
RCGP Scotland End of Life Care Sub-Group
The RCGP Scotland Sub-Group comprises
a broad range of members from accross the country, including key
stakeholders, and is lead by Dr David Carroll, GP Facilitator for
Palliative Care, NHS Grampian. The rest of the group comprises GP
representatives from each of the five Scottish Faculties, a
representative from Marie Curie Cancer Care, a representative from
Macmillan Cancer Support, a representative from the
Scottish Government for Palliative and End of Life Care, a
representative from the Scottish General Practitioners Committee
(SGPC), and a patient representative from RCGP Scotland's Patient
Partnership in Practice (P3) group.
In parallel with the other regions in the
UK, the aim of the Scottish group is to shape and develop the RCGP
End of Life Care strategy which has been developed in line with and
in response to the Department of Health End of Life Care Strategy,
to address the current issues relevant to primary care. The
strategy aims to lead the way in defining, enabling and pioneering
good practice in end-of-life care and affirm the principles and
shared vision but encourage local national implementation and
developments.
The RCGP Scotland End of Life Care
Sub-Group first met in April 2010. One of the first
tasks taken on by the group was to undertake surveys of
GPs and patients to determine what they felt constituted "good" end
of life care" instead of assuming what this looked like. The survey
results have now been analysed and a will be used to inform the
direction of the work the sub-group undertakes. Further details of
the survey and an article about the findings, written by a
member of the sub-group, can be found on the surveys page of this website.