Driven by Marie Curie Cancer Care, this initiative aims to give greater patient choice in end of life care, and to enable quality care to be delivered to more people in more locations.
Marie Curie Cancer Care will be working in partnership with NHS Tayside, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Perth and Kinross Council, Angus Council, and Dundee City Council to deliver the project. The project will run for three years.
The project aims to develop patient-focused 24 hour service models that serve the local needs and ensure:
- The best possible care for palliative care patients
- Improvements in equity of access to services
- Appropriate support services for palliative care patients and their carers
- Choice in place of care and death
- Information on choice is available and known to all
- Improvements in co-ordination of care among stakeholders.
Marie Curie Cancer Care approached Tayside partners with the project after identifying clear health service requirements in the area, such as the need to integrate specialist services.
Marie Curie Cancer Care will be providing substantial charitable funds to this project and in addition will seek funding from other sources.
Speaking before the NHS Tayside meeting, Professor Tony Wells Chief Executive of NHS Tayside said: “We very much welcome the opportunity to work with Marie Curie Cancer Care on this exciting new initiative. This reinforces our commitment to providing the best possible care for all our patients at every stage of their illness.”
Marie Curie Cancer Care's Chief Executive Tom Hughes-Hallett said: “This is a very exciting project which is going to put Tayside right in the front rank of care for the dying.
“This project has the potential to make a huge difference for end-of-life patients in Tayside. We are working very closely with others to develop the best of the existing services and introduce new ways of providing care.”
With Marie Curie Cancer Care's strong education and research resources, the charity expects that many of the solutions, services and learning established from this plan will be shared nationwide.
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