Nicola Spencer introduces the enhanced Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care website which will be the new go-to place for resources and learning:

Struggling to keep up to date and informed on changes impacting on palliative and end of life care? Not sure where to find the latest resources and improvement examples?

Then you will be pleased to hear we have launched a tailor made national End of Life Care (EoLC) Knowledge Hub providing you with a ‘one stop shop’ of palliative and EoLC information.

In order to provide easier access to EoLC resources, we have brought together a comprehensive library of material, previously located across a multitude of sites, into one central library and hosted on the Ambitions website.

This hub provides anyone involved in the commissioning or provision of palliative and end of life care with a quick and easy way to source information, including helpful tools and resources to drive delivery of the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care – a national framework for local action.

Prof Bee Wee, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for End of Life Care had this to say about the website: “One of the strongest messages that came out of developing the Ambitions Framework was the powerful and exponential effect of collaborative working. I am particularly pleased that we have been able to expand the Ambitions website to host this Knowledge Hub.

“Talking with my colleagues across England, I know they welcome it as a central repository for resources to use and to share. As we all get busier in our daily lives, great ideas and examples of innovation can go unnoticed; people can end up reinventing the wheel at a time when we need to be ever more efficient and effective in sharing our limited resources, so I hope the spirit of collaboration and willingness to learn from each other will persevere through this Hub.”

Expansion of the Ambitions website was commissioned by NHS England and taken forward by the National Council for Palliative Care, one of the Ambitions partners.

A cross-sector stakeholder group was established to oversee the transition of national documents, leaflets, booklets, policies and educational resources. Decisions made were based on validity, reliability, value and relevance to the Ambitions framework.

Early next year, professionals will be able to submit resources they would like to see available on the knowledge hub for assessment against robust criteria to ensure the site remains current and appropriate for users.

Gina King, Quality Improvement Lead from the South West Strategic Clinical Network, who has been involved in this project from the start, said “The opportunity to combine all national health and social care resources into one central website will really help to support practitioners to have easier and simpler access to information around End of Life Care.

The design of the new site will help identify material that can help embed the Ambitions into current practices for everyone working in palliative and End of Life Care.”

I would encourage anyone working in this sector to visit the site and bookmark the page – I’m sure it will be a valuable tool for all!