Barnet is the fourth site in the UK to adopt the programme.
For Barnet, Marie Curie Cancer Care will drive forward Phase I (understanding the current state of services) and Phase II (designing new service models), and local stakeholders will take forward Phase III (implementation).
This differs to the way flagship projects are rolled out, where the charity funds and manages all three phases.
The NHS has been tasked to ‘commission’ services based on evidence of need, and the outcomes of the Barnet project will be a commissioning framework which will assist local stakeholders in taking forward solutions which meet local needs and allow more patients to be cared for in their place of choice.
Peter Crutchfield, Director of Service Modernisation at Marie Curie Cancer Care, said:
“We have some excellent learning and experience from our three existing flagship projects to share with Barnet. Working alongside local NHS, voluntary sector and social care staff we will use our methodology to undertake the first two phases of the project. This in turn makes the overall programme more sustainable as we have a greater capacity to support more health and social care communities across the UK to improve the provision of palliative care.”
Phase I is now underway as the project team are conducting interviews and focus groups with local staff and patient and carers, mapping current processes of care, and analysing data about services to identify the strengths of local services and challenges that may need to be addressed in Phase II.
Pictured: All the key stakeholders involved in the DCP, including Dr Nicky Agelopoulos, programme manager, DCP; and Becky Kingsnorth, Barnet project manager, DCP.
April 2007
