Better Access to Palliative Care UpdateApril 2016

BAPC Staff NewsAnnabelle Dent (formerly Bond) has returned to the BAPC team from maternity leave and is working two days a week. Annabelle has a background in Occupational Therapy and will oversee the BAPC-funded TasEquip project to establish an effective and integrated state-wide system for the management of palliative care equipment in Tasmania. Annabelle will also be working with fellow BAPC team members Loren Taylor and Flora Dean to finalise the evaluations of the Nurse Practitioner and Rural General Medical Specialist workforce development projects. Annabelle can be contacted on 67772998 on her workdays – Mondays and Wednesday’s.

Walking Through GriefPalliative Care Tasmania is undertaking an evaluation of the Walking Through Grief (WTG) Program.

Walking Through Grief groups operate around Tasmania and offer mutual support for people who are experiencing grief

through the death of a family member. Participants and stakeholders who refer clients to the program or are involved in its administration are invited to provide feedback.

To participate, please go to the survey link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/73C6LZX

The WTG survey takes about 10 minutes and will close on the 6th May 2016. The evaluation has ethics approval from the Tasmanian health and Medical Research Committee.

Tasmanian Palliative Care Community CharterKPHealth Consultants have been appointed to develop the Tasmanian Palliative Care Community Charter.

The Tasmanian Palliative Care Community Charter will:

• Give a voice to community members about their palliative care needs and expectations of service providers

• Assist to raise awareness about palliative care and planning for death and dying

• Provide guiding principles to inform and underpin the delivery of palliative care in Tasmania.

KPHealth will be undertaking widespread community consultation to inform the development of the Charter.

The consultation is expected to commence in May 2016. More information about the consultation process will be published on the BAPC website in the near future.

BAPC- iPatient Manager (iPM) ProjectSpecialist Palliative Care Services (SPCS):After implementation of the patient administration system iPM in November, the project team has now handed over the management of the user group to the SPCS Clinical Management Committee.

This will provide a regular forum for ongoing guidance, system enhancement and process development. This group has Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Patient Administration System (PAS) Support team and SPCS users represented. The first meeting was held on the 12th April, with confirmation of the membership, and the resolution of two outstanding issues, which is an excellent outcome.

The ‘For Your Information’ (FYI) management report is currently in its second draft and a demonstration of this powerful management reporting tool for

the services to utilise will be available in the following weeks.

The national Palliative Care Outcome Collaboration (PCOC) reporting extract is currently undergoing its final validation and internal testing is progressing well. An extract is being sent to the University of Wollongong for testing.

CommunityCommunity services in scope for implementation of iPM are Continence Service and Adult Day Centres statewide, Community Dementia Services (North, Northwest) and the Community Options Service (South).

Home and Community Care (HACC) federal funding program data collection and reporting requirements are forefront in the design of the system. It will result in a more automated statutory reporting process and reduce data entry.

The system has been demonstrated to the Community Options Service and demonstrations to the other services will be occurring over the next few weeks. Implementation is planned prior to the end of the financial year. There is an exciting level of enthusiasm from all services that are currently in scope and we look forward to a successful implementation.

A new image for Specialist Palliative CareWith funding support from the Better Access to Palliative Care program, a Communications Strategy and new image