Allowing hospice colleagues to offer timely and efficient information to families of palliative care patients, by having access to acute hospital data in the Shared Care Record

A Clinical Nurse Specialist, from St Luke’s Hospice has demonstrated how the Acute hospital data in the Shared Care Record can reassure family member and prevent needing to access other emergency services when caring for a for a palliative care patient.

The challenge

A routine follow up call regarding patient’s pain management was carried out by a Hospice Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS).  The CNS was unable to make contact with the patient directly and spoke to the patient’s mother (Next of Kin – NOK). The patient’s mother was very tearful, stating the patient had left the house this morning to attend a chemotherapy appointment at the Hospital – however the patient’s mother also disclosed her concerns that the patient was at risk, as prior to leaving the home the patient stated ‘He knows he is dying and has had enough and just wants to die’.  This naturally upset his mum and since then she had no further contact with him.

Due to this statement, it raised concern for the CNS regarding the patient’s psychological wellbeing.

Accessing shared information

Having access to the Shared Care Record, the CNS was able to view if the patient had any updated information outside of SystmOne, which confirmed that the patient had been admitted to A&E on the morning in question.

Impact and outcomes

Using the Shared Care Record helped to:

• The impact was, the reassurance to the CNS and the patient’s Next of Kin, that the outcome was that the patient was being cared for in a place of safety.
• This prevented the need to access other emergency services to locate the patient such as the Police or Adult Social Care in supporting a vulnerable person.

The difference it made

The difference it made was that the CNS was easily able to review and track the patient’s whereabouts without the need for multiple phone calls/contact with various teams and sites – a huge time saver for the CNS on duty, reducing the need to pass onto other colleagues if the attempts at locating the patient were unsuccessful.  This enabled the CNS to be more time efficient whilst having the patient’s and patient’s mother’s wellbeing at the core.

The emotional reassurance to the patient’s mother was eased, knowing her son’s whereabouts and that he was being cared for.

Further internal follow ups were scheduled to plan for discharge from A&E or to view if the patient was admitted to hospital for acute intervention – allowing the Hospice to be proactive and adapt the person-centered care and support required.