South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) has developed the Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) role for residential aged care homes (RACH) to increase specialist palliative care consultation and improve palliative care outcomes for residents with complex needs.
Highly experienced CNC Rachael Williams:
- Directly supports RACHs by servicing SWSLHD community referrals for RACH residents received by the Triple I Hub
- Supports capacity building of RACH workforce by providing:
- Advance care planning promotion and education
- Promoting implementation of ELDAC toolkits and resources
- Collaborating with SWSPHN to increase palliative care support for RACH GPs
More than 160 residents have been supported since the position was established in mid-January 2022, receiving a palliative care comprehensive assessment, an individualised plan, a review of their advance care planning, a follow up call or visit and referral to the community palliative care medical team if required to meet their needs.
Rachael also has discussions with RACH clinical staff, residents and/or their families providing suggestions which are forwarded to the RACH care team and uploaded to the resident’s files.
- GPs working in RACHs with residents they want to refer or discuss, can send referrals via Triple I, or an email to the District Palliative Care Secretary Patricia Rebello at Rebello@health.nsw.gov.au
- Questions regarding the Palliative Care CNC for RACHs can be directed to Rachael Williams at Williams@health.nsw.gov.au
This article appeared in Practice Pulse on Wednesday, 7 December 2022. If you are a GP, practice nurse or practice manager in South Western Sydney and do not get the weekly Practice Pulse email, speak to your Practice Support Officer.