Barnsley NHS team share their expertise in Sweden
Barnsley’s Supportive Care at Home service, which is provided by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, has shared their expertise as part of an international health learning event in Jonkoping in southern Sweden.
The International Clinical Microsystem Festival is an arena for those developing and improving health care. At the Festival attendees get the opportunity to meet international new-thinkers in health care and share good practice.
Two members of staff from the Barnsley Supportive Care at Home Service presented their work on a care packages pilot project, which has already been recognised and celebrated locally for the difference it is making to Barnsley people who are at the end of their life.
Care packages support patients at the end of life and their families. The team worked in partnership with colleagues to review care provided and launched a project to co-ordinate care from a central point, developing processes to deliver individualised care – this allows someone to choose to die at home.
The care provided manages the ever changing needs of a patient at the end of their life. The service offers both qualified and unqualified staff, dependent on the needs of the family, that can stay overnight with patients, often at very short notice, providing a friendly, reassuring presence for patients and families. By centralising the care provided, the team communicate with all parties ensuring patients can be at home quickly, reducing delays and removing the need for multiple assessments.
Speaking about the care one Barnsley carer said, “I would like to thank you for the amazing care you provided to my dad, you made the last days of his life so much more comfortable and also provided support to my mum. Your care was, in my dad’s words, ‘champion’ and we are so very grateful.”
Jayne Jeavons, co-ordinator for the service said, “We were so pleased to have been invited to such a prestigious event and to share our learning with other health professionals. People from a wide variety of different countries were really interested and inspired by what we have been doing in Barnsley. We hope that the service we offer to people in Barnsley will inspire other health systems around the world to look at end of life care.”
Steven Michael chief executive at the Trust said, “We are committed to developing our reputation as a quality provider of specialist services and as a thought leader, sharing our expertise.
It has been very valuable to share learning with colleagues in Sweden, as part of our region’s international partnership with their health system and we were delighted that our Barnsley team were able to talk about the excellent work they are doing to help support people in Barnsley at the end of their life.”
The Barnsley service was also recognised for their work at the Trust’s Excellence awards 2012 where they won the ‘Excellence in clinical care’ category.