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North Western Melbourne PHN is working with the North and West Metropolitan Region Palliative Care Consortium to increase our understanding of how community palliative care services work with GPs when providing palliative and end of life care to patients in the community. This is an opportunity to strengthen the collaboration, to identify the strengths in the collaboration and opportunities for improvement.

This should take about 10 minutes to complete. We really appreciate you taking the time to respond to this survey. Results will be communicated via our GP newsletter.

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* 1. Experience in looking after palliative care patients.

What is your role?

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* 2. Do you currently or have you in the past supported palliative care patients?

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* 3. Do you conduct home visits for your palliative care patients?

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* 4. Do you conduct visits for palliative care patients in RACFs?

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* 5. Shared Understanding

Working collaboratively between community palliative care services and GPs when caring for a palliative care patient in the community ensures care is coordinated and benefits the patient and family.

The following questions relate to your understanding of the role of, and collaboration with community palliative care services. Please select how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

I understand the role and function of community palliative care services?

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* 6. Community palliative care understand the role and function of GPs in end of life care.

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* 7. What suggestions do you have to improve the understanding of the role and function between GPs and community palliative care services?

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* 8. Communication

How satisfied are you with the communication received from the community palliative care services?

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* 9. When would you like to receive communication from palliative care services regarding your patient? (Please tick an many as relevant)

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* 10. How would you prefer to receive communication about your patients from community palliative care services?

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* 11. What suggestions do you have to improve communications and collaboration between community palliative care and general practice? This may include the way you are communicated with, the content of those communications and any other factors.

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* 12. Accessing services

Community palliative care encourages early referrals from GPs to ensure patients have access to early and appropriate palliative care in the community.

Please select how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

I am able to identify patients who would benefit from community palliative care.

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* 13. I am aware of the referral pathways to access my local community palliative care provider.

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* 14. I always receive confirmation of the receipt of referral.

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* 15. Management of Patients under Community Palliative Care

Community Palliative Care providers need to work in collaboration with GPs to ensure the best outcome for the patient and their family

Which of the following were you aware that you may be asked to assist with whilst a patient is under the care of community palliative care?

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* 16. The following questions asks about your confidence and practice symptoms in relation to the above aspects of care.

Access to timely symptom management interventions is key to ensure effective patient care.

Have you been contacted to discuss symptom management of a patient being managed by community palliative care?

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* 17. If so, were you confident about how to manage this?

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* 18. What further support would you require to be confident to discuss symptom management with a patient being managed by community palliative care in the future?

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* 19. What arrangements does your practice have in place to be contacted about patients in out of hours (after hours or on weekends) to provide symptom management interventions?

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* 20. What suggestions do you have to improve processes around palliative care patients’ access to symptom management interventions?

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* 21. Having a current understanding of evidence-based medication management for palliative care patients in the community is key to effective symptom management. Community palliative care services often rely on GPs to prescribe anticipatory medications for palliative care in the community as the services are predominantly nurse led.

How familiar are you with the evidence-based medication management for palliative care patients in the community?

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* 22. How confident are you in prescribing these medications if requested by the community palliative care providers?

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* 23. What would you assist you to feel more confident in prescribing anticipatory evidence-based medication for palliative care patients in the community?

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* 24. Continuity of care is integral in end of life care.

We are keen to understand what processes currently exist in your clinic:

Our practice has a process for GPs visiting patients in their deteriorating or terminal phase in their home.

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* 25. Our practice has a process in place for the treating GPs to hand over care and management of their palliative patients while on leave.

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* 26. Our practice has a process to ensure that death certificates can be written on weekends (if required) when funerals are required within 24 hours for cultural reasons.

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* 27. Timely access to repeat prescriptions for palliative care patients is important and can impact effective symptom management.

In your experience, community palliative care have effective processes for requesting repeat scripts for palliative care patients from GPs.

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* 28. What suggestions do you have to improve requests for repeat scripts for palliative care patients?

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* 29. End of life care discussions and advance care planning 

Patients with malignant disease and patients with non-malignant disease both require discussions about end of life care.

I am confident to discuss end of life needs and preferences with patients.

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* 30. What would assist you to increase your confidence in having these discussion?

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