New NHS pilot scheme launched at Aylesbury facilities to improve end-of-life care

A new NHS 12-month pilot scheme is being launched at Aylesbury facilities to improve end-of-life care services.

For the first time in Bucks, end-of-life personal care and specialist home nursing services will come under one umbrella.

Starting in April, the scheme will be operational at Florence Nightingale Hospice and Rennie Grove Hospice Care which serves Bucks and Hertfordshire.

The two categories used to be separate with patients receiving personalised services from the NHS and specialist home nursing at hospices.

Personalised care covers help washing, dressing, and eating – for those reaching the end of their lives.

Other nursing services are provided separately at hospices.

This often led to delays in discharging those patients who wished to die at home, as two separate referrals had to be coordinated, Rennie Grove states.

That all changed for west Hertfordshire residents in July 2020 when, following a successful pilot scheme, the Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group contracted its fast-track personalised care service provision to three local hospices: Rennie Grove Hospice Care, Peace Hospice and the Hospice of St. Francis.

Known as the Rapid Personal Care Service (RPCS), the service is still fully funded by the NHS, but operates within the hospice organisations.

Hospices favour this service as it allows patients to be fluidly cross-referred for personal care and nursing support as required.

The RPCS pledges to always implement care within 48 hours of referral.

Dacorum team Hospice at Home Nurse Jennifer Roberts, said: “Many of our hospice at home patients are not in need of personal care assistance until their final days, but when that time comes, the care needs to be organised quickly to avoid hospital admission.

"Knowing I can count on our in-house RPCS team to get that care in place within 48 hours has enabled us to avoid what could otherwise become an incredibly distressing end-of-life situation for the patient and their loved ones.

"Those patients who wish to die at home can do so peacefully and with dignity, knowing both their practical and clinical care needs will be met."

Rennie Grove Hospice Care worked with the Bucks Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for several months to get this scheme ready.

Using the success of the West Hertfordshire rollout as basis to build the plan around.

Rennie Grove will be providing care for the South Bucks area, while Florence Nightingale Hospice will be covering North Bucks.

Kim Ward, RPCS clinical education and quality lead at Rennie Grove, said: “I’m thrilled patients living in our Buckinghamshire catchment area will now also be able to benefit.

"We currently have 25 members of staff in the Herts RPCS team, who make an average of 100 visits a day - and have yet to miss a 48-hour implementation-of-care target.

"Some of them will be deployed to Bucks as we build up that team, but we’re already getting our feet on the ground there.

"Referrals are starting to come in and we are actively recruiting staff to cover that area.”