End of Life Care in General Practice: A National Survey of GPs Sarah Mitchell, Joelle Loew, Catherine Millington-Sanders, Jeremy Dale Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL Royal College of General Practitioners Clinical Innovation and Research Centre, London, NW1 Introduction The numbers of people living in the community with complex life-limiting multi-morbidity in the community is increasing. GPs play a pivotal role in the provision of palliative and end-of-life care (EOLC). However with the GP workforce under unprecedented pressure, consideration must be given to improving the organisation and delivery of high quality palliative and EOLC. . Method A web-based national UK survey was circulated via Royal College of General Practitioners, NHS, Marie Curie and Macmillan networks. Responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and an inductive thematic analysis. Captions to be set in Times or Times New Roman or equivalent, italic, 18 to 24 points, to the length of the column in case a figure takes more than 2/3 of column width. Results 516 GPs responded, and were widely distributed in terms of practice location. 97% felt that general practice plays a key role in the delivery of care to people approaching the end of life and their families. Four interdependent themes emerged from the data: Effective symptom-control and access to specialist palliative care services, including the availability of hospice beds. A need for training and professional development to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes towards EOLC. Challenges include early identification of palliative care needs and recognition of the end of life; opportunity for care planning discussions and the provision support for families. Difficult to achieve due to resource concerns including time, staff numbers, increasing primary care workload and lack of funding. Effective multi-disciplinary team working and communication were considered essential. Out of hours arrangements were considered problematic. Continuity of Care Patient and Family Factors Clinical Management Expertise and Training Results Importing / inserting files… Images such as photographs, graphs, diagrams, logos, etc, can be added to the poster. To insert scanned images into your poster, go through the menus as follows: Insert / Picture / From File… then find the file on your computer, select it, and press OK. The best type of image files to insert are JPEG or TIFF, JPEG is the preferred format. Be aware of the image size you are importing. The average colour photo (13 x 18cm at 180dpi) would be about 3Mb (1Mb for B/W greyscale). Call MIU if unsure. Do not use images from the web. Captions to be set in Times or Times New Roman or equivalent, italic, between 18 and 24 points. Right aligned if it refers to a figure on its right. Caption starts right at the top edge of the picture (graph or photo). Conclusion The survey findings are in keeping with previous research, suggesting that limited progress has been made to enhance the quality of EOLC. There are enduring priorities for policy, commissioning, practice development and research, in the context of a pressured and changing primary care environment in the UK. What this study adds The survey provides insight into current experiences of GPs delivering EOLC, and suggest that GPs perceive ongoing service delivery concerns in EOLC. The contribution of GPs in the delivery of EOLC should remain a priority area for policy-makers and researchers.   Mitchell S, Loew J, Millington-Sanders C, Dale J. (2016) “Providing end-of-life care in general practice: findings of a national GP survey” Br J Gen Pract doi: 10.3399/bjgp16X686113 http://bjgp.org/content/66/650/e647