Creating capacity through partnership: a palliative care skills development programme

This paper presents the development and implementation of a recurrently funded, rolling, 6-month palliative care secondment programme for NHS community staff nurses based in a rural health economy in Southwest England. The programme is a key tool in a wider development plan for improving access to, and the quality of, palliative and end-of-life care for a dispersed rural population. This is part of a much bigger programme of integration to meet the shared challenges of service capacity, equity, and sustainability that are presented by the geographical and demographical profile of the locality. The 'bigger picture' is defined and set in the context of the national drive and evidence base for integration in order to explain the reasons behind the secondment programme. This is followed by outlining the iterative process of design and implementation--the 'what?' and 'how?'--and key learning points to date are shared.