39 An audit of the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust’s (BHSCT) 24/7 specialist palliative medicine telephone advice line in 2022

Introduction Equitable access to out of hours (OOH) Specialist Palliative Care (SPC) advice has been highlighted as a key priority for Northern Ireland (NI) since 2016.1 The National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) 2021 emphasised gaps in hospital and OOH SPC services in NI, with only 30% of hospitals having a 24/7 SPC telephone advice service in 2021.2 NACEL recommended that NI should work towards developing 24/7 SPC services throughout the region.2 BHSCT currently runs a 24/7 SPC telephone advice line. The line is staffed by Trust Palliative Medicine Consultants and Registrars 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, and by a commissioned external Specialist Palliative Medicine UK service for OOHs. The Trust has a robust governance structure for this OOH advice. Methods Audit of SPC Advice Line, collating data from advice sheets completed during each call. Excel used to analyse number and distribution of calls, profession of caller, reason for call and Palliative diagnosis. Results 344 calls in 2022, with 171 occurring between 9am-5pm at weekends or bank holidays. Middle grade doctors where the most common caller, followed by Registrars and Foundation Year 1 doctors. 25% of patients were already known to SPC Services; 69 Inpatient and 19 Community. Documented malignant diagnoses accounted for 203 calls, with 129 calls for patients with non-malignant diagnoses. Complex Symptom Advice was the most common call (254), of which pain was most prevalent symptom (218). 45% (156) of the calls were for patients approaching End of Life. Conclusion The use of the service has demonstrated a clear need for a 24/7 Specialist Palliative Advice Line. Advice was sought by a wide range of healthcare professionals for patients with both malignant and non-malignant diagnoses, reflecting the broad need of Specialist Palliative input for patients with complex and advanced illness across different care settings. Dr Claire Beverland (IMT), Dr Conn Haughey (Consultant in Palliative Medicine), Dr Joan Regan (Consultant in Palliative Medicine) References Review of the Implementation of the Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy, January 2016. RQIA. Available online at:1c349f45-1c38-49bbaeeb-e6a363f4c5ad.pdf (rqia.org.uk) (accessed 12.01.23) National Audit of Care at the End of Life 2021, Round 3 Report. NHS Benchmarking. Available online at: NACEL Audit Outputs — NHS Benchmarking Network (accessed 12.01.23)