Journal of Public Health 26(3) © Faculty of Public Health 2004; all rights reserved.
Continuity within primary palliative care: an audit of general practice out-of-hours co-operatives
Jenni Burt, Research Associate1
Cathy Shipman, Senior Research Fellow1
Stephen Barclay, Macmillan Clinical Fellow2
Nigel Marshall, Senior House Officer3
Amanda Stimson, Senior House Officer4
Jason Young, Senior House Officer5
1 Department of Palliative Care and Policy, King’s College London, Weston Education Centre, Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ, UK.
2 Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 2SR, UK.
3 John Eastwood Hospice, Sutton in Ashfield, Notts NG17 4JH
4 Sue Ryder Care Centre, Thorpe Hall, Peterborough PE3 6LW
5 Arthur Rank House Hospice, Brookfields Hospital, 351 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 3DF
Address correspondence to Mark Ashworth. E-mail: mark.ashworth{at}gp-G85053.nhs.uk
Background The transfer of information between general practitioners (GPs) and their out-of-hours providers on vulnerable patient groups is essential to ensure continuity of care. This will be critical when, in 2006, NHS Direct will triage and route all out-of-hours calls. This study investigates the current use of information handover systems for palliative care patients within four out-of-hours co-operatives.
Methods Paper records of all 13460 contacts during August 2002 were scrutinized. Using a standardized data extraction form we recorded details on all palliative or terminal contacts, and the existence of information handover.
Results Across the four co-operatives, 2.1 per cent of all calls were from palliative care patients; co-operatives held handover information for between one (1.2 per cent) and 13 (32.5 per cent) of these patients.
Conclusion The systems in place to alert these co-operatives to the needs of palliative care patients are currently under-utilized. As services move towards an integrated approach, scrutiny of information transfer systems and encouragement of GPs and district nurses to update information, may help to ensure better continuity of care
Keywords: general practice, out-of-hours, palliative care, continuity of care