The End of Life Care at North Bristol NHS Trust aims to deliver care in line with nationally recognised priorities for care of the dying person:
- The possibility that the person is dying is recognised and communicated clearly, decisions are made and actions taken in accordance with the person’s needs and wishes, and these are regularly reviewed and decisions revised accordingly.
- Sensitive communication takes place between staff and the dying person, and those identified as important to them.
- The dying person, and those identified as important to them, are involved in decisions about treatment and care to the extent that the dying person wants.
- The needs of families and others identified as important to the dying person are actively explored, respected and met as far as possible.
- An individual plan of care, which includes food and drink, symptom control and psychological, social and spiritual support, is agreed, coordinated and delivered with compassion.
In order to support staff in delivering high quality care that is tailored to the individual, we use a framework of care called the Purple Butterfly approach. This approach is used to acknowledge when the focus of a persons care is comfort and symptom control and to identify their priorities and needs.
At NBT we are committed to providing high quality, personalised care at end of life. Alongside use of the Purple Butterfly approach we deliver regular palliative and end of life care teaching to all grades of staff and undertake audits to measure quality and effectiveness.