Questions to the Mayor of London – answered at on 19 March 2021.
In light of the pandemic, how are you working with partners across London to improve palliative care?
The NHS London Palliative and End of Life Clinical Network has led a range of initiatives to support London’s communities during the pandemic. These include developing: a pan-London electronic medication authorisation and administration record chart for symptom control in people’s homes; a systematic search tool to help GPs to identify people in their last year of life; a COVID-19 primary care toolkit with support for compassionate conversations, guidance from community specialist palliative care, assistance with care after death and information for care homes; a specialist palliative care peer support network to share challenges and learning; and the collation of innovative clinical practice and research which has been shared with stakeholders to spread and adopt across London.
The GLA has worked collaboratively with the London Clinical Networks and other partners as part of a coordinated bereavement response.