The week we're sharing the story of a patient whose transfer to a local hospice was delayed unecessarily which caused distress the patient and their family. By just doing a couple of things differently in this case would have improved this patient's experience. 

There was a confusion over to take out (TTO) medicines, as it was assumed anticipatory meds may be required, and there was also a delay in booking the dedicated end of life care (EOLC) ambulance.

Our consultant in Palliative Medicine, Dr Mary Kiely said:  "Patients transferring to local hospices don’t require anticipatory meds in their TTOs, nor a community prescription chart. It is important though to send any unusual drugs with the patient.

"Colleagues involved in booking an EOLC ambulance should call 0300 330 0241 as early as possible on the day of discharge, and request a two hour slot so they can keep the patient and their family updated."

End of Life information is available on the intranet under Clinical Information and our End of Life Care strategy is in the polices and documents library - use the A-Z or search.