Aims of Strand Three
A key goal of Strand 3 is implementation of supportive and palliative care interventions in practice. We are undertaking research to examine how staff can be best trained, practice changed and new practice made sustainable. Supportive and palliative care (SuPaC) therapies delivered by specialists are never going to be available on the scale required and therefore training non-specialist staff to deliver them is a priority, reflected in the NICE guidance. As most interventions in SuPaC are delivered by people, the training and wellbeing of the staff themselves is of critical importance to the delivery and sustainability of services. Implementation also requires organisational change and as we study interventions in each site we will keep field notes of organisational difficulties that emerge and how these were overcome and develop a synthesis of the lessons learnt to guide future implementation.
Specific aims are to:
- Develop and evaluate a model of skills training for cancer doctors, nurses and other staff to deliver SuPaC interventions. The model and the evaluation will build on the approach taken in the UK for communication skills training.
- Examine ways of improving the mental health of cancer doctors, nurses and other staff through the evaluation of the impact of national skills training initiatives and changes in service organization on job satisfaction.
- Through our National Clinical Lead roles in SuPaC, work with the DH to ensure the research outcomes from the Collaborative are used to inform SuPaC policy and practice.
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