“How do you eat an elephant?” THE MARIE CURIE CENTRE BELFAST EXPERIENCE

Profile of Marie Curie Centre Belfast  19 bedded In-Patient Unit  Over 360 admissions every year  100 staff  150 volunteers  Satellite Day Therapy Services  Family Bereavement Care  Complementary Therapies  Living Rooms Appeal

Privacy & Dignity  Fits in with the ethos of palliative care  Timely, due to planned refurbishment and extension programme  User groups established (Chartermark)  Enthusiasm!

The process  Team leader  Comparison group  The 7 factors  Identify areas of good practice & gaps  Action Plan  Implement  Review

Progress?  Slow!  Keeping it simple  Time factors  Membership

What happened next? Service User Group!  Most productive  Small but significant  Important to them!

Gaps?  Religious/cultural issues  Lack of space  Shared rooms  Too much contact!  Hiding death  Sharing information

One bite at a time!  Induction/education  Ethnic minorities information  Care after death policy  Comments cards  Single rooms/facilities for families  Protected time for patients

Where to now?  More benchmarks  Other care settings e.g. satellite day therapy areas, MCNS.  Other hospices to benchmark against  A new building!

Lessons learnt………….  Keep it simple  Listen to everyone  Complaints are good!  Suggestion box  User groups  Small things are IMPORTANT too!