A strategy to improve end-of-life care offered by an ambulance service

This article has been double-blind peer reviewed

In this article…

• How ambulance crews support people at the end of life

• Sharing patients’ information and wishes between regional services

• Improving an ambulance service’s end-of-life training and transport

Abstract

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust worked in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support to develop a supportive palliative and end-of-life care service and tackle issues highlighted at a national level. They produced an informationsharing programme to ensure patients’ wishes are met and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. They also rolled out a training programme to clinical and nonclinical staff across the service and redesigned the trust’s end-of-life care transport process. These changes resulted in an increasing number of patients’ information being shared between relevant settings and fewer appropriate requests for end-of-life care transport being made.