Crash course in EPaCCS (Electronic Palliative Care Coordination Systems): 8 years of successes and failures in patient data sharing to learn from

BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 2018 8(4), p447-455
Petrova, Mila; Riley, Julia; Abel, Julian; Barclay, Stephen

EPaCCS are England's pre-eminent initiative in enabling advance care planning and improved communication and coordination at the end of life but have been extremely challenging to develop and implement. The authors discuss the current EPaCCS landscape and way forward, summarise key facts concerning the availability, uptake, outcomes and costs of EPaCCS and outline the key challenges and drivers. 

Fulltext available in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care

Available in print in Arthur Rank Hospice Library, Cambridge

Instruments to evaluate complexity in end-of-life care

Current Opinion in Supportive and Palliative Care, 2018 12(4) p. 480-88

Martin-Rosello, Maria Luisa; Sanz-Amores, Maria Reyes; Salvador-Comino, Maria Rosa

This review presents the state of art of the role of complexity in specialist palliative care provision. Complexity science, complexity frameworks, as well as tools evaluating complexity in palliative care are described.

Advance care planning in England: is there an association with place of death? Secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of Bereaved People

BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care 2016 June 16

Josie Dixon, Derek King, Martin Knapp

The authors used an expressed preference for place of death which was recorded by health care staff as an indicator of advanced care planning in order to explore whether ACP is associated with place of death.  They also considered if enough support was available to care for a person dying at home and the overall quality of care and pain management.  They found a strong association between advance care planning and a range of quality outcomes, including preferred place of death.

Fulltext available in BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care

Available in print in Arthur Rank House Library, Brookfields Hospital