Collaboration between St Luke’s Hospice and Coordinate My Care (CMC) on advanced urgent care planning
HELP US TO HELP YOU! As a nation the art of having difficult conversations around advance care planning does not come easily. At this time we are hearing that many patients and families are beginning to talk about difficult futures, challenging decisions and appropriate treatments. Some are even saying ‘If I was dying, I wouldn’t want it to be on a ventilator’. What would your thoughts, wishes and preferences be if you were in a life threatening situation in the future? Here at St Luke’s, and as the wider NHS, we need to know your wishes and preferences. By sharing them with us, you will HELP us to HELP you in an emergency.
Professor Julia Riley, Clinical Lead at digital advanced care planning service Coordinate My Care, and Palliative Care Consultant at The Royal Marsden Hospital says, “As Londoners we can take control of our own urgent care and HELP the urgent care services to HELP us by recording our wishes and preferences on myCMC. From who’s important to me, my resuscitation views, my preferred place for care at the very end of life and even who should care for my pets in an emergency. At this time when our emergency care services are stretched to their limits, you could help them by sharing your important information with them.”
Martin Hill, Well-being Manager at St Luke’s Hospice, highlights, “We have been working alongside our colleagues at Coordinate My Care over a long period of time and see the benefit to our patients and families who are able to share their views and wishes. In times such as this it is important that we continue to promote this work and thus offer our patients, both now and over the coming months, the opportunity to record their preferences.”
By going on to myCMC (mycmc.online), you can fill out a digital questionnaire and tell us how we can help you. This questionnaire will then automatically go to your GP who can add your diagnosis, medications and their clinical advice on future care management. Your GP will then approve your completed plan and it will become available as a secure digital CMC plan immediately. Your CMC plan can then be viewed by all the urgent care services – 111, out of hours GPs, the Ambulance service and the Emergency Department.
Sharing your information about your wishes HELPS us to manage the demand on emergency services, aids ambulance crews regarding conveying you to hospital or not, supports treatment and escalation and reduces re-admissions. Critical information about you at the right time will HELP the urgent care services to support you in the best way possible and may prevent you from unnecessarily being admitted to hospital if they can treat you at home.
