At Home Palliative Care Project
MPHN is one of 11 Primary Health Networks from across the country who have been granted funding by the Department of Health to implement the Greater Choices for At Home Palliative Care Measure. The Department of Health has commissioned Deloitte Australia to conduct an overarching evaluation of the Greater Choices for At Home Palliative Care Measure across the 11 project sites. The project is funded until June 2020.
The MPHN At Home Palliative Care Project focuses on the enhancement of local palliative care service provision, to improve access to safe, quality palliative care at home and support end-of-life care systems and services in primary healthcare and community care. This project will provide greater choice for patients and families in regards to setting of care and preferred place of death.
Key project strategies
1. Multidisciplinary Telehealth Trial
There are five general practices within the MPHN which are acting as trial sites for the project. These are located in Tumbarumba, Corowa, Cootamundra, Hay and Young. Each site is co-designing their own local models of care, which encompass the following features:
Identification of a local afterhours pathway for palliative patients and families
Development of local palliative care multidisciplinary team meeting
Implementation of a prognostic tool and advance care planning into practice processes
Generation of palliative care specific data to ensure continuous quality improvement
Utilisation of telehealth to support the delivery of flexible and responsive care
2. Implementation of a Compassionate Communities Framework
MPHN is supporting Local Health Advisory Committees (LHACs) and their associated communities to adopt a public health approach to death, dying and bereavement. Compassionate Communities is a public health approach that aims to build community capacity to support people approaching the end of their lives.
The Culcairn and Griffith LHACs have formed local working groups, for the purpose of hosting four free community development workshops in their towns in 2019. The La Trobe University is supporting these community development activities through the provision of resources from their evidence-based Healthy End of Life Project (HELP) Framework. It is expected that through these activities, community members will:
Have increased awareness around death, dying, loss and grief
Be more likely to be persistent when offering help, more likely to ask for help when needed and more likely to accept help when it is offered to them
Develop individual support plans that mobilise care networks when carers need support
Identify and map their community assets, supports and services
The Department of Health have commissioned Deloitte to conduct an overarching evaluation of the Greater Choices for At Home Palliative Care Measure across the 11 project sites.
Palliative Care – Understanding your local palliative care system and support services
Palliative Care – Understanding your local palliative care system and support services is a resource booklet developed to inform patients and carers of what services are available in the Wagga Wagga area and how to access those services.
The booklet contains information on:
Local health facilities and the admission process
Aged care assessment and respite options
Community and palliative care nursing and after hours contacts
Support services (local, NSW and national supports)
Planning ahead checklist (for patients with a life limiting illness)
Handy questions to ask (ask the health professional)
Helpful medical terms (glossary)
This resource was developed by the Calvary Palliative Care Enhancement Council, with the support of Calvary Riverina Hospital, Murrumbidgee Local Health District and Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network.
Palliative Care – Understanding your local palliative care system and support services (PDF)
Planning a Successful In-home Respite Visit
Christmas Tree of Remembrance Guide
Video Presentations for GPs
Preparing family for the caring role, with consideration of bereavement support
Presented by Dr Mark Boughey (20/02/2019)