The Planning Your Future Care Study

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Advance Care Planning Towards the End of Life in Frail Older People: Implications for Acute Hospital Care.

  • IRAS ID

    135608

  • Contact name

    Jane Seymour

  • Contact email

    jane.seymour@nottingham .ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Nottingham

  • Research summary

    Frailty amongst older people is increasing with numbers of frail older people in the UK set to quadruple in the next 40 years. Frailty often leads to a spiral of physical decline with increased risk of admission to hospital and death. It has been suggested that to enhance quality at the end of life, patients and carers should have the opportunity to discuss personal needs and preferences with professionals who can support them.

    Advance Care Planning (ACP) can give people the opportunity to state preferences they have about their future care. Despite policy initiatives however, ACP within a hospital environment has not been widely practiced. In addition , completing the ACP process in its current form requires patients to retain full capacity under the Mental capacity Act 2005. This has important implications for frail older people and raises questions of how this group can engage with health professionals in planning for end of care or indeed whether they should wish to do so.

    The purpose of this study is to investigate advance planning for end of life care from the perspectives of hospitalised frail older people and/ or their cares and examine the implications of this for acute hospital care and contemporary frameworks/policy that exist in relation to advance care planning for end of life care. Up to three in-depth interviews during and post admission will be undertaken over a period of 12 weeks, taking a case study design; with each case comprising of a frail older patient and/or their relative/carer.

    Thematic and narrative analysis will be undertaken and the study will be written up as a PhD. By investigating these issues from the perspectives of those who face them, there is the potential to develop patient focused interventions to improve end of life care for frail older people and influence policy.

  • REC name

    East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    14/EM/0004

  • Date of REC Opinion

    6 Feb 2014

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion