Palliative care system for Banburyshire patients goes live

Hospital Rapid Response (HRR) enables quick support for patients in hospital who are dying and who have expressed a preference to be at home at the end of their life.

The Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Palliative Care team supports the project by speeding up discharge from hospital and then follows up with care at home from the OUH Home Hospice Care Team and the OUH Community Palliative Care team, along with other community services.

HRR in Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire is part of a wider project launched earlier this year with the aim of supporting people at the very end of their life whose choice is to die at home rather than in hospital.

The project is a unique partnership between Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), Sobell House Hospice Charity, Macmillan Cancer Support, and Social Finance.

OUH, Macmillan, and Social Finance are working together through a ‘social impact bond’ which provides up to £6.1m funding to OUH for the project, while Sobell House Hospice Charity has entered into a grant agreement with OUH to provide up to £4 million.

Since the launch of the wider project in April, 230 people reaching the end of their lives have been cared for in their own homes.

Dr Victoria Bradley, Clinical Lead for Palliative Medicine at OUH, said: “The initial phase of this project has been a huge success.

"The project aims to provide rapid support to patients in hospital who are at the end of their life and get them home safely and quickly and with the right support in place if they would prefer to die there rather than in hospital.

“One of the main drivers of this overall project is to give people control and agency over their palliative care – HRR is a continuation of this and supports our aims of delivering care closer to home with the right support in place.”

Amelia Foster, Chief Executive at Sobell House Hospice Charity, said: “Sobell House Hospice Charity is delighted to be able to help fund this innovative rapid response service that will help more end of life patients die at home, if that is their choice. It will also reduce non-elective bed days, benefitting the wider population by reducing the capacity issues.”

Katy Saunders, Director in the Health and Social Care team at Social Finance, said: “Our vision is that death is understood, and dying and grieving are valued as an integral part of all our lives. We are proud to be working with OUH, Macmillan and Sobell House to make this a reality in Oxfordshire.

David Seychell, Macmillan Senior Manager for Social Investment for End of Life Care, said: “At Macmillan Cancer Support, we want everyone approaching the end of their lives to have their vital needs met by high-quality services and we are very proud to be a part of this collaboration supporting the people of Oxfordshire.”