Getting the best outcomes possible for people towards the end of life

In 2019 local people agreed on ten priorities for end of life care. We call these the ‘Outcomes that Matter.’

The Alliance is committed to working together to achieve these outcomes as best as possible with the resources available for people in the last year of life in north east Essex.  They are:

1. To identify and recognise people in the last 12 months of life
2. To inform people thought to be within the last 12 months of life and their families of the likelihood of death within the next 12 months sensitively and honestly
3. To elicit and record people’s preferences for care during the last 12 months of life
4. To respect people’s preferences for care during the last 12 months of their life
5. To ensure people’s preferences for care are accessible to all parts of the health and social care system/end-of-life-care system
6. To treat people at end of life as individuals, with dignity, compassion and empathy
7. To control pain and manage symptoms for people during the last 12 months of life
8. To minimise inappropriate, unnecessary and futile medical intervention during the last 12 months of people’s life
9. To ensure that people at end of life have equitable access to flexible 24/7 end-of-life care services irrespective of the place of care or the organisation/s providing care
10. To provide support to the families and other carers during and after their loved one’s end of life

The video below explains more about the 10 outcomes that matter:

Why this is important in north east Essex?

Most people at the end of life wish to be cared for outside of an acute hospital and yet 46% of local people die there each year.

An audit of hospital deaths in our local acute trust ESNEFT (East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust) during 2018 showed that many deaths in hospital could have been avoided if people could access care in a place of preference such as the hospice, community hospital, care home or their own home.

National strategy recommends that people are identified in a timely fashion as they approach the end of life in order that they may be offered advance care planning, carer support, coordinated care, optimal symptom control, as well as anticipatory management of future symptoms and care in their place of preference.

If you’re interested in helping improve end of life care and shaping future services, would you consider joining our patient participation group or being involved in our patient feedback project?