Palliative care clinical indicators
Palliative Care Australia (PCA) has welcomed the Royal College of General Practitioner’s (RACGP) provisional ‘clinical indicators’ for Australian general practice, which feature a specific indicator for palliative and end of life care.
Palliative Care Australia (PCA) has welcomed the Royal College of General Practitioner’s (RACGP) provisional ‘clinical indicators’ for Australian general practice, which feature a specific indicator for palliative and end of life care.
“It is fantastic to see an indicator that is focused on improving palliative and endoflife care in general practice,” Dr Scott Blackwell, GP and president of PCA, said.
“It is an acknowledgement of the important role general practice has in supporting and coordinating the care of people who are dying, their families and carers,” he explained.
The indicator recognises the close relationships GPs and the primary care team have with people in their communities, and lists caring for people nearing the end of their life as part of the ‘core business’ for general practice.
This concurs with research released by PCA during National Palliative Care Week this year, in which 95% of GPs surveyed agreed they had an important role to play in supporting patients nearing the end of their lives.
“The indicator will allow GPs to monitor and improve the quality of their clinical services in relation to palliative and endoflife care,” Dr Blackwell said.
“We would hope it would lead to improvements in the coordination of patient care, an increase in advance care planning and setting priorities for care, good symptom management and support for families and carers,” he added.
The clinical indicators are under a period of consultation with a pilot planned for later in the year. Once introduced, implementation will be a voluntary process.
“GPs are telling us that this is an integral area of their practice and we would hope that the majority of practices will implement the palliative care indicator.
“This indicator is a commitment to excellence in palliative and endoflife care in general practice and we applaud the RACGP for promoting this.”
A survey by Palliative Care Australia found almost half of the respondents think their families don’t understand what they want at the endoflife, with more than a third believing their final wishes may be ignored by relatives.
