Improving Access to Palliative Care Resources to Support General Practitioners
A blog post written by Dr. Deborah van Gaans
The increasing demand for palliative care is apparent in the Needs Assessment Reports undertaken annually by the Primary Health Networks across Australia. These regional reports describe the prevalence of chronic conditions, age distribution and demand for services. To meet this growing demand, many GPs are currently providing end of life care, and a survey by Coulton and colleagues (1) has identified that 39% of GPs are interested in doing more palliative care, but their lack of skills and or knowledge, and lower exposure to palliative care patients holds them back. The survey also identified 23% of GPs who identified as palliative care indifferent, and 14% who avoid palliative care (1). Therefore, to meet the growing need for palliative care in our community we need more GPs to actively provide palliative care.
In response to this need, CareSearch has recently created a new section of evidence-based palliative care resources for health professionals working within the Primary Health Care setting. This new Primary Health Care section provides evidence-based resources to support the key role that GP’s have in planning and the provision of end-of-life care. The Primary Health Care section of the CareSearch Information Portal provides details on individual health professional roles within the Primary Health Care setting and the identification of overlapping scopes of practice. This information identifies opportunities to aid GPs in the management of high or increasing caseloads through the sharing of palliative care activities across a multidisciplinary team. Downloadable documents list Medicare items health professionals can use for renumeration when undertaking palliative care activities. These documents remove the uncertainty of being reimbursed for undertaking palliative care. Descriptions of current pathways and established frameworks can support GPs in defining a pathway that will suit their individual patients needs and help to prescribe a clear process for the provision of palliative care. Within the Primary Health Care Setting, people with life limiting illness will often move between health services and health professionals in response to their individual needs. The provision of strategies and practical evidence to aid in the transfer of people with life-limiting illness between health services for specific treatments or as needs change, can support GPs in this process.
With resources specifically aligned with Australian Primary Health Care, the new Primary Health Care section of the CareSearch Information Portal provides GPs with support to undertake palliative care and the ability to build capacity through the recognition of other health professionals who may assist them. The addition of this new section provides not only additional support to those GPs currently undertaking palliative care, but also provides access to resources to upskill GPs who are currently not actively engaged in providing palliative care. This increase in access to relevant evidence based palliative care information and resources can help meet the emerging demand for end-of-life care within the Primary Care setting.
References:
- Coulton C., Boekel C, 2017. Research into Awareness, Attitudes and Provision of Best Practice Advance Care Planning, Palliative Care and End of Life Care Within General Practice. Department of Health.
Dr. Deborah van Gaans
Research Associate
CareSearch