NCDAH Round 1

One hundred and eighteen hospitals took part in the first round in 2006/2007 submitting data from 2672 patients whose care in the final days of life was driven by the LCP.  The audit provided individual hospitals with useful comparative information on the delivery of care in the last days of life and illustrated examples of excellence across the board.  Overall, the generic audit results (full report available via link on left hand side) revealed that while standards of clinical care for the individual patient were high, there was room for improvement in the assessment of insight and spiritual needs, particularly those of patients.  In general, communication with patients and primary care and information sharing both before and after the death of the patient remains a challenge.

Following the dissemination of the results, three regional workshops, attended by around 120 participants, were held to provide a forum for further discussion and action planning for future improvement.  An overwhelming majority of participants felt that the workshops had provided a valuable opportunity to network and share good practice and that participation in the audit would lead to improvements in care of the dying in their hospitals.  A summary of the workshop as well as examples of good practice are available via the link on the left hand side.