Networking to improve end of life care

摘要

Key messages class="unordered" style="list-style-type:disc">Networking across organisational and professional boundaries can facilitate learning and sharing of best practice that significantly improves end of life care.Successful networking needs to be based upon credible evidence-based clinical guidelines and policy-driven incentives at the national level and at the local level clinical ownership, personal communication and ‘distributed leadership’.End of life care can fall down due to poor communication where responsibility for care is passed between primary care organisations, ‘out of hours’ agencies, social services and hospitals.Learning through networking is fragile and can easily be undermined by short-term pressures to cut costs.Why this matters to meDying may be the most important event in every person's life and yet it is often hidden in our society, health and social care. This paper describes how an end of life care project, involving networking across organisational and professional boundaries, addressed this taboo and improved care for people who were dying.