Who are we?

• We are a Palliative and End of Life Care Network who are working to improve the experience of the people of Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire (GMEC), along with their families and carers.
• We have Clinical Leadership from a Palliative Medicine Consultant and a Primary Care Lead General Practitioner (GP).
• The work of the network is developed together with an Advisory Group which has representation from all localities in GMEC that includes Greater Manchester Cancer, Commissioners, Health and Social Care Professionals, Educators and Patient Carer representation.

What are our aims?

• To address unwarranted variation and promote equity of access to Palliative and End of Life Care Services.
• To have a framework for Palliative and End of Life Care linking with each locality and their local plans.
• To have an open and honest conversation with citizens to increase public awareness about the importance of thinking about and planning for death, dying and bereavement.
• To support the uptake of advance care planning (ACP), this can be a written document that explains their wishes and preferences for future care, making what people choose more likely to happen.
• To improve the identification of those people in the last 6-12 months of life and to have their person centred care planned for their individual needs by competent and confident staff.
• To improve electronic record sharing of personalised and holistic care plans, to enable timely care to be delivered in the persons place of choice.
• To share and collectively develop best practice guidance to support timely delivery of care, including for example equipment and prescribed medicines.
• For all citizens of Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire identified as being at the end of life, to have their care planned for their individual needs by competent and confident staff in person centred care.
• To improve timely access to Specialist Palliative Care, 7 days , improving weekend and Bank Holiday access.
• To improve bereavement support which meets the needs of the local population and that is available for families of Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire.

How do we do it?

• Networking and partnership working with localities, patients and carers allows us to identify best practice and where improvements can be made.
• Through education and training and events and workshops which share best practice e.g. communication skills training.
• Working with partners at a National and Regional level to draw up best practice guidelines and recommendations.

How can I get involved?

The views of the professionals and the public are very important to us. If you wish to get involved, or need any further information please drop us an email at england.gmec-eolc@nhs.net.