New end-of-life care guide could significantly reduce pressure on healthcare professionals
‘Taking Control’ patient-led advance care planning tool enables people to easily record, share and store their own future healthcare choices
Many people faced with long-term or degenerative health conditions cannot get the care they would like to have, or end up receiving treatment that is not what they want - because they have not had any advance care plan conversations
A unique guide which features the first patient-led advanced care planning tool has today been launched by Pavilion Publishing.
Taking Control – A Practical Guide and Tool for Advance Care Planning , can be used by healthcare professionals to help patients navigate the complex healthcare system.
It could significantly help to address the fact that more people than ever are dying in hospital when they would prefer to die at home.
Reducing pressure
With only 8% of the 15 million terminally-ill patients in the UK having an advance care plan in place, Taking Control could mean the needs of more patients are more accurately met in the future.
The tool can be used to supplement and enhance discussions with health professionals, potentially saving time and enabling people to be more in control of the content of their advance care plan.
In addition, if more people were to die in their preferred place, this could reduce pressures on healthcare professionals and prevent unwanted or prolonged admissions to hospitals.
How it works
Taking Control enables people to easily record their story and personal choices on a rewriteable CD. The advance care plan document can then be shared with family and professionals who need to know - and is stored in a person’s healthcare records. It could also be kept with a will or downloaded onto a USB wristband.
Kim Shamash, a retired consultant psychiatrist wrote the guide after training and working in the NHS for 35 years.
By making this guide available to patients, they will be more likely to initiate these difficult discussions with their families and health professionals and to feel more empowered to ask questions to help them make decisions about treatment options
She said: “Many people faced with long-term or degenerative health conditions cannot get the care they would like to have, or end up receiving treatment that is not what they want - because they have not had any advance care plan conversations.
“This can significantly impact perceptions of healthcare, which creates additional pressure on those trying to make best interest decisions about and providing the care.
“By making this guide available to patients, they will be more likely to initiate these difficult discussions with their families and health professionals and to feel more empowered to ask questions to help them make decisions about treatment options.
“I encourage healthcare organisations to raise awareness about advance care planning. If more people plan ahead, we can address their needs better, saving time, money and distress. I hope Taking Control will facilitate this discussion and enrich the existing resources provided by GPs, nurses and healthcare visitors across the UK.”