Developing a best practice model for partnership practice between specialist palliative care and intellectual...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Services Research
• Intellectual Disability Care
• Palliative Care

Background:

• International literature highlights poor access to quality palliative care for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• Partnership practice in end-of-life care is increasingly proposed as a solution.
• Existing services often lack effective collaboration between palliative and intellectual disability care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a best practice model for partnership working.
• To guide and promote collaboration between specialist palliative care and intellectual disability services.
• To address the identified gap in integrated end-of-life care.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods research design was employed across two phases.
• Phase 1 utilized questionnaires to scope end-of-life care provision (71.2% response rate).
• Phase 2 involved semi-structured interviews with 30 health and social care professionals.

Main Results:

• Good practice examples were identified, but partnership working was infrequent.
• Professionals reported unmet educational needs in end-of-life care for this population.
• Key themes included challenges, learning, support, and practical partnership issues.

Conclusions:

• Joint working and continuous learning are fundamental for effective care.
• A transferable framework for partnership practice has been developed.
• The model has potential international applicability for end-of-life care services.