Palliative Care - FOI Response Register

1. The name of your Health Board

NHS Shetland

2. The size of population you cover

In accordance with FOISA s 16(1), NHS Shetland confirms that it holds the information requested but that it is exempt from disclosure under FOISA s 25(1) as the information requested is accessible without submitting a request under FOISA s 1(1). The information you have requested is available here:

Statistics and data - National Records of Scotland (NRS)

3. A list of the providers you use to provide specialist palliative and end of life care to adults in the community (ie in people's homes or care homes). If possible please breakdown by type of provider eg NHS, charity, private provider and state the number of patients they are expected to serve each year.

NHS.

4. For each provider, please provide a breakdown of the hours when you have commissioned those services to be available eg "face to face visits available 9am-5pm weekdays, telephone advice out of those hours". I am specifically interested in when face-to-face visits are available, partially available or not available.

Macmillan/Oncology team – available as hours in question 5 for visits.

In hours there are GPs/ANPs and Community/District nursing teams available for telephone advice and face to face visits.

For palliative care patients, there is direct access to the community nursing team in NHS Shetland, for both telephone advice and home visits if appropriate over the out of hours period

The on call out of hours GP/ANP will provide telephone advice and also face to face if indicated.

5. For each provider, please provide a breakdown of which health professionals are staffing those services in working hours and out-of-hours. I am specifically interested in whether staff capable of prescribing and administering strong pain relief are available overnight and at weekends.

Macmillan/Oncology Palliative care nurses within working hours Monday –Thursday 9-5, Fri 09.00-16.30

In hours there are GP/ANPs/DNs available for any prescribing/administration of medications.

In the out of hours period there is a GP or ANP on call and also a District or Community nurse (not all nurses are prescribers – but the on call ANP/GP are experienced prescribers in Palliative care). All of the NHS Staff on call for out of hours are competent in the administration of medications.