Evaluating Enhanced Palliative Care at Home

Researchers: Leanne Davey, Georgina Johnstone, Janeen Cato, A/Prof Judy Lowthian

Funding support: Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network - Enhanced Palliative Care at Home Program

Despite 70% of Australians wanting to die at home, only about 14% do so. This is in part due to poor coordination of services and health professionals in the last year of life, as well as not having the opportunity to discuss and document end of life preferences.

Bolton Clarke has been funded by the Eastern Melbourne PHN to provide community-based palliative care support for people (and their carers) in their last 12 months of life, to help enable them to remain living at home or in a home-like environment, and minimise unnecessary hospitalisation.

The program will support implementation of the Bolton Clarke Model of Palliative Care as a quality improvement project within the Outer East region of Melbourne. Nursing care managers will be supported to incorporate a general palliative approach as standard practice, proactively identify clients, as well as enhance referrals to specialist palliative care services and General Practitioners.

This research project, Evaluating Enhanced Palliative Care at Home, will examine the implementation of the quality improvement project and the impact on staff. Participating staff will be involved in the evaluation, through questionnaires and interviews to explore their satisfaction with the model, as well as the perceived barriers and enablers experienced when implementing the model. Home nursing data for the region will be utilised to show impact on care, including advance care planning and referrals.