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End of Life Care: Bath and North East Somerset (BANES)

Neurological Commissioning Support was engaged by Bath and Northeast Somerset PCT to engage people affected by long-term neurological conditions to establish their views on end of life care.

“It’s very refreshing to be able to talk about death and about what we had been through. We had never met before, but we all had similar ideas. I was surprised to find when I got home that I had found it quite stressful, but it was worth it.” A person with a long-term neurological condition, CS BANES: End of Life Care & A focus group

Addressing this sensitive subject, our local staff engaged service users and carers affected by Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Motor Neurone Disease in focus groups and one-to-one interviews to establish their views and preferences on services available at the end of life.

Stakeholder conferences attended by service users, health and social care professionals and members of the voluntary sector also ensured good engagement and involvement from start to finish.

A report was produced which issued recommendations, and has resulted in:

  • A training programme for Advance Care Planning to be rolled out to all healthcare staff
  • A reference group of service users and carers being set up to monitor the PCT’s progress
  • A therapeutic discussion group created for service users to discuss end of life

Awarded in the NHS Involvement to Impact Awards (i2i) 2008 for its outstanding service user involvement, this project is also being published as an example of best practice.

For more information on this project, see some of our other literature, feel free to contact us, or:

 

 

Why not ‘Get Involved’? Share your views, tell us about the services in your area or use our discussion forum to talk to other people affected by a long-term neurological condition.


Link to MS Society website Link to Motor Neurone disease association website Link to Parkinson's Disease Society website