Primary Care End of Life Care Wales Network

The Demographic Time Bomb!

About 1% of our population die every year, of whom almost two thirds are aged over 75. The large majority of deaths  follow a period of chronic illness such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic respiratory disease, neurological disease or dementia. Most deaths (58%) occur in NHS hospitals even though the majority of our patients would prefer to die at home. With a population dying older and a predicted dramatic rise in deaths , we cannot be complacent  about this demographic time bomb.

We believe that general practice is best placed to provide the solutions facing the NHS is Wales.

End of Life Care Strategy in Wales—The Sugar Report

Viv Sugar was commissioned by the Minister to undertake a review of palliative care services in Wales and in 2008 Edwina Hart announced funding to the tune of £8 million over the next three years to further improve palliative care across Wales. The report recognises the roles of both specialists and generalists  in the care of patients nearing the end of their lives. The Palliative Care Implementation  Board, chaired by Baroness Ilora Finlay, has been responsible for implementation of its recommendations.

A Primary Care EOLC group has been established—with responsibilities to the Palliative Care Implementation Board and RCGP Wales. This multidisciplinary group is chaired by Dr Helen Herbert and aims to raise the quality of care that we offer to patients nearing the end of their lives.

RCGP UK End of Life Care Strategy Launched

Professor Keri Thomas,  RCGP EOLC  Champion launched the UK RCGP EOLC  Strategy at the RCGP Conference in Glasgow in November. The strategy aims to lead the way in defining, enabling and pioneering  good practice in EOLC, reflecting the crucial role that GPs play now and in the future. Wales is represented on the strategy group and is setting objectives to address the needs of Wales.

GSF Wales — Going for Gold!

Are you using the Gold Standards Framework to its full potential? One study showed that only 16% of Welsh practices have registered with the GSF website as compared to 80% in other UK countries. We are pleased that WAG is supporting projects to raise awareness of GSF in Wales and has provided funding to ensure that all Welsh practices will continue to be able to use the templates and sources of information that the GSF website provides. So log on now to  www.goldstandardsframework.co.ukOther projects include  three GSF conferences in Wales to be held in Summer 2010 and fifteen practices will take part in an exciting project to raise the  level of implementation of GSF using the After Death Analysis Toolkit and a series of educational DVD’s. This “Going for Gold” project provides a framework for all people nearing the end of life.