RE-EQUIPP Care Partnership: REducing inEQUalities through Integration of Primary and Palliative Care

Our aim is to build a research partnership to lead new research into how primary and palliative care services can work together more effectively to address inequalities in palliative care.

RE-EQUIPP
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Background: 

Good palliative care is necessary to ensure that all people live as well as possible towards the end of their lives, but access to good palliative care is patchy and unequal. Many more people have died at home and in care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic than in previous years. Inequalities in access to palliative care have unfortunately increased during this time.

Primary care has a key role in providing palliative care to people in the community alongside specialist palliative care services. Research that includes primary care and palliative care together is rare. We are planning to identify research priorities and develop new research plans to bring together primary and palliative care, with patient and public views at the centre. 

Aims

We will work together to:

  1. Build a research and practice partnership between primary and palliative care in three places: the Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, Sheffield and Sussex. 
  2. Lead and develop new research into how primary and palliative care services can work together more effectively to address inequalities in palliative care. 
  3. Ensure considerable input from patient and public advocates.
  4. Construct nationally competitive research applications to develop new integrated models of palliative care for people in the community.

Activities and Outcomes 

Over 12 months, the partnership will:

  1. Improve equality of access to patient and public involvement opportunities in palliative care research, particularly for those who are not usually engaged. 
  2. Work together to understand how best to share the findings of research with professionals, local communities, policy makers and the government.
  3. Identify key research questions, methods and research teams for a series of new research applications through workshops and active engagement with patient and public advocates.
  4.  Build a world-leading research team in primary and palliative care.

For more information about the study contact Dr Sarah Mitchell (s.j.mitchell@sheffield.ac.uk)

Funder: National Institute for Health Research

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