System transformation in palliative and end of life care: developing a model for excellence

The purpose of this study is to report how the palliative and end of life care community in one region of England worked together to create a new model for integrated palliative and end of life care to respond to the challenges of changing demography, the need to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions of people nearing the end of life and to improve the quality of provision in line with current policy.

A co-production approach to system transformation was adopted involving 73 members of the palliative and end of life care community in one region of England.

A new model for the delivery of integrated palliative and end of life care services was produced. The breadth of membership of the co-production working party and constructive/collaborative working helped ensure a viable model was produced.

Although systems' thinking perspectives can help address the challenges of large-scale transformation because they focus on promoting the value of relationships, recognise the nuances of context and the need to understand system behaviour over time, the potential for systems to benefit from this approach is limited by the complexity of the processes involved and the sheer number of issues to be addressed in practical terms by policy makers and change leaders.

The paper explores the contribution that theories of large-scale transformation can make to the design of palliative and end of life care services in health and social care.