Northern Ireland Palliative care tools guidance
The Palliative Care in Partnership (PCiP) programme
The Palliative Care in Partnership (PCiP) programme was officially formed in Northern Ireland in September 2016. The website provides an overview of the programme including information about palliative care, news and associated resources
This section contains documents relating the strategic direction of palliative care in Northern Ireland
The Assembly’s Health Committee has launched a report into the findings of its Inquiry on Access to Palliative Care Services in Northern Ireland.
This regional guidance has been developed for healthcare professionals managing heart failure symptoms at end of life.
Identification
This section contains documents relating to palliative care training and best practice identification tools
Advanced Care Planning
This section contains documents relating to advanced care planning in Northern Ireland
The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) in Northern Ireland was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency, on behalf of the Regional Palliative Care in Partnership Programme.
Assessment & Palliative Care Services
This section of the website contains documents on user assessments and palliative care services.
Care of the Dying
All documents in this section relate to the care of the dying in Northern Ireland.
Bereavement Care
In 2006 the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (since 2016 DoH) established the HSC Bereavement Network, appointing a Trust Bereavement Coordinator to each Health and Social Care Trust.
Providing high quality palliative care for our children: a strategy for children’s palliative and end-of-life care 2016-26
The Northern Ireland Department of Health has published a 10-year strategy for palliative and end of life care for children and young people
Management of Symptoms in Adults in the Last Days of Life
2023 Northern Ireland Guidance for the Management of Symptoms in Adults in the Last Days of Life.
Northern Ireland guidelines on converting doses of opioid analgesics for adult use 2023
2023 Northern Ireland guidelines on converting doses of opioid analgesics for adult use
This document outlines the definition, cause, prevalence and evidence based practice for the Specialist Palliative Care Allied Health Professional (AHP) interventions to manage symptoms frequently presenting in those living with advanced incurable illness.
The Heart of Living and Dying - A facilitator's guide for health and social care professionals
The Heart of Living and Dying is a 2 hour group process which offers members of the public the opportunity to have an advance care planning type conversation about what matters to them in their living and dying.
The Northern Ireland Regional Paediatric Palliative Care Network (RPPCN) have developed a resource to support families and professionals where a diagnosis of a potentially life limiting, or life-threatening condition has been made at antenatal stage. The resource will help inform parental decisions and promote effective communication between professionals to ensure the most effective supports are put in place.
This guidance has been designed to support both healthcare professionals and patients, this guidance provides practical, evidence-based insights to support safe and effective use of subcutaneous syringe pumps for adults across Northern Ireland. It provides a regional standardised approach to consent, patient information, prescribing, administration, education, training, audit and governance. This regional guidance aims to promote safer subcutaneous medication delivery and improved patient outcomes by offering practical patient centred advice, clear processes, and guidance to reduce the risk of error.
This document has been robustly developed through the auspices of Palliative Care in Partnership, to access this regional guidance document please use this link.
This guidance has been developed for healthcare professionals managing heart failure symptoms when end of life is expected within weeks to days. For these patients it would likely be inappropriate to monitor bloods at this stage of a patient’s illness. However due to the trajectory of heart failure it is advised to use clinical judgement to monitor bloods or vital observations should the end of life stage become prolonged or longer than predicted.
Discuss changing the approach to diabetes management with individual and/or family if not already explored.
Ensure the Diabetes Specialist Team and GP (as appropriate) are involved and agree monitoring strategy