Turner, N. orcid.org/0000-0002-0870-8324, Wahid, A., Oliver, P. et al. (8 more authors) (2023) Role and response of primary healthcare services in community end-of-life care during COVID-19: Qualitative study and recommendations for primary palliative care delivery. Palliative Medicine, 37 (2). pp. 235-243. ISSN 0269-2163
Abstract
Background: The need for end-of-life care in the community increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary care services, including general practitioners and community nurses, had a critical role in providing such care, rapidly changing their working practices to meet demand. Little is known about primary care responses to a major change in place of care towards the end of life, or the implications for future end-of-life care services. Aim: To gather general practitioner and community nurse perspectives on factors that facilitated community end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to use this to develop recommendations to improve future delivery of end-of-life care. Design: Qualitative interview study with thematic analysis, followed by refinement of themes and recommendations in consultation with an expert advisory group. Participants: General practitioners (n = 8) and community nurses (n = 17) working in primary care in the UK. Results: General practitioner and community nurse perspectives on factors critical to sustaining community end-of-life care were identified under three themes: (1) partnership working is key, (2) care planning for end-of-life needs improvement, and (3) importance of the physical presence of primary care professionals. Drawing on participants’ experiences and behaviour change theory, recommendations are proposed to improve end-of-life care in primary care. Conclusions: To sustain and embed positive change, an increased policy focus on primary care in end-of-life care is required. Targeted interventions developed during COVID-19, including online team meetings and education, new prescribing systems and unified guidance, could increase capacity and capability of the primary care workforce to deliver community end-of-life care.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2022. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Palliative care; terminal care; COVID-19; primary health care; general practice; primary care nursing; qualitative research |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Primary Care (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 May 2024 10:06 |
Last Modified: | 09 May 2024 10:06 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/02692163221140435 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:212341 |