Free Downloads
The NCPC documents below are available to download and print free of charge. Older issues of our magazine, Information Exchange, are also available as free downloads. Click here for more information.
Other NCPC documents are available to buy individually, and are included in the price of a subscription. Click here to buy individual publications or here to subscribe.
Older publications are also available to download for free from the Publications Archive here.
Hide Details for All Publications | Show Details for All Publications
The aims of this publication are to clarify the definition of Advance Care Planning and related terms, to provide practical guidance on core competences, education and training of different professional groups and related ethical and legal implication and to suggest next steps. NHS End of Life Care Programme publication supported by NCPC. Updated August 2008.
To download this publication click here.  (378KB)
The purpose of this guide is to help health and social care professionals understand and
implement the new law relating to advance decisions to refuse treatment, as contained in the
Mental Capacity Act 2005. NHS End of Life Care Programme publication supported by NCPC. September 2008.
To download this publication click here. (962KB)
November 2006. To download this document click here. (159KB)
This joint publication between NCPC and the NHS End of Life Care Programme suggests ways that care home staff working in partnership with other organisations have improved the care that the residents now receive, whether in assessing needs support for staff, new roles, education and training. It highlights where organisations have brought a number of these elements together in a creative way to improve care.
June 2007. To download this publication click here. (845KB)
These guidelines build on the Quality Requirements in the National Service Framework (NSF) for Long-term Neurological Conditions (LTNCs) to explore the interaction between specialist neurology, rehabilitation and palliative care services, and how they may best work together to provide long-term support for people with LTNCs and the family members who care for them. The guidelines recommend a collaborative model for interaction between the different specialties involved in the care of people with LTNCs.
March 2008. To download this publication click here. (Link to RCP Website)
Dementia is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative illness which has a terminal outcome over an average range of 3 to 8 years (Xie et al 2008). Nationally, end of life care for patients with advanced dementia has been poorly researched, and service provision in the UK is generally poor.
This report is based upon: discussions at meetings with health service professionals who have cared for a wide range of people with dementia; conversations with carers of people with dementia; and an analysis of the histories of care received by a small sample of people with dementia who died in Haringey between May 2008 and March 2009. The findings enrich our collective understanding of the experience of care for a vulnerable and growing number of people as well as those who care for them and should help to inform future planning of joint service delivery.
October 2009. To download this publication click here. (584KB)
This framework complements and extends work already underway at a national level. It builds on the vision of High Quality for All which requires all strategic health authorities to produce end of life clinical pathways.
March 2008. To download this publication click here. (1.47MB)
NCPC and the NHS Centre for Involvement (NCI) have produced a guide, which explicitly looks at practical aspects of involving people in palliative and end of life issues. It is supplemented by a Practical Educational Tool (PET) to facilitate delivery of this material in an educational context.
July 2009, 54 Pages. To download this publication for free click here. (3.55MB)
The Practical Educational Tool can be downloaded with the links below:
The aim of this booklet published by the British Heart Foundation is to raise awareness of the potential dilemmas that devices such as ICDs introduce in advanced disease management, and to promote discussion about the possibility of deactivating the defibrillator function of the ICD in patients who are reaching the end of their life.
July 2007, 12 Pages. To download this publication for free click here. (120KB)
Care home managers will be better able to provide the best levels of treatment and support for residents at the end of life thanks to the availability of a new guide which provides details about practical steps that can be taken to improve care.
The NHS End of Life Care Programme, working in partnership with the NCPC, has produced a guide that will help care homes to care for residents’ physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs to achieve the best quality of life for patients and their families, even when this is likely to be short. The Introductory guide to end of life care in care homes is aimed at care home managers and staff interested in improving care for residents in the final stages of life.
March 2006, 20 Pages. To download this publication for free click here. (462KB)
NCPC has now published its "National Survey of Patient Activity Data for Specialist Palliative Care Services - MDS Full Report for the year 2006-07 ". This contains vital statistics from services across the UK. This is the 12th report from NCPC, since the introduction of the Minimum Data Sets Project in 1995.
December 2007, 36 Pages. To download sample pages from this publication click here. (313KB)
NCPC has now published its "National Survey of Patient Activity Data for Specialist Palliative Care Services - MDS Full Report for the year 2005-06 ". This is the full report for the year 2005 - 2006 and contains vital statistics from services across the UK. This is the eleventh report from NCPC, since the introduction of the Minimum Data Sets Project in 1995.
November 2006, 40 Pages. To download this publication for free click here. (429KB)
The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out commitments to patients, public and staff in the form of rights to which they are entitled and pledges which the NHS will strive to deliver, together with responsibilities which the public, patients and staff owe to each other to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively. A consultation exercise has been carried out to ensure that the draft constitution reflects the needs of all stakeholders. This document reproduces NCPC’s formal response based on input from both service users and professionals who have expertise in and understanding of end of life and palliative care.
October 2008. 6 pages. To download this publication, click here (57KB)
Through the Autumn, the Department of Health ran a major consultation to influence the forthcoming White Paper on Health and Social Care. NCPC was asked to ‘gather the views of people at the end of their lives’, and as a result we have consulted with service users, subscribers and all key stakeholders. This publication reproduces the response sent by NCPC as its formal contribution to the consultation.
January 2006. 6 pages. To download this publication, click here (45KB)
This document summarises the input gained by NCPC from patients and carers in response to the End of Life Care Strategy Questionnaire. People were asked to record their thoughts and opinions on the following aspects of end of life: initial discussion about end of life care, assessing the needs of people and their partner/carers, planning the individuals’ care, deciding where to live and receiving additional care or support, ensuring services are well integrated, last days of life, care after death and bereavement support.
June 2007. To download this document click here. (90KB)
The NCPC welcomes the proposal of the Department of Health to prepare a comprehensive strategy to develop and progress end of life care. It notes that the intention of the strategy is to establish the means whereby the Government’s commitments on palliative care outlined in its election manifesto can be delivered together with those on end of life care contained in the White Paper ‘Our health, our care, our say’.
August 2006, 34 Pages. To download this document click here. (705KB)
In January 2005, NCPC launched its Palliative Care Manifesto for all parties to fully support and champion at the general election expected in 2005. The manifesto builds on the recommendations in the all-party House of Commons Health Committee report of July 2004 and is based upon the principle of extending palliative care to all those who need it.
To download the manifesto for free, click here (55KB)
For further information on our Palliative Care Manifesto, click here
Reports on two surveys commissioned by the Department of Health in 1999 to obtain a picture of the current level of provision for palliative care, and Health Authority views about the adequacy of and need for such services. It was envisaged that together with the Minimum Data Sets data, these surveys would assist the New Opportunities Fund in its consideration of bids for funding palliative care developments and provide an overall picture of the extent of palliative care provision across the country to help inform future development of national policy.
NCPC/Hospice Information Service/Department of Health, August 2000 (A4, 28 pages) ISBN 1 898915 25 3
To download this publication for free, click here (116KB)
There may be times in your life when you think about the consequences of becoming seriously ill or disabled. This may be at a time of ill health or as a result of a life changing event. It may simply be because you are the sort of person who likes to plan ahead.
You may want to take the opportunity to think about what living with a serious illness might mean to you, your partner or your relatives, particularly if you become unable to make decisions for yourself. You may wish to record what your preferences and wishes for future care and treatment might be or you may simply choose to do nothing at all.
One way of making people aware of your wishes is by a process of advance care planning.
This booklet provides a simple explanation about advance care planning and the different options open to you.
To download the booklet for free, click here (295KB)
August 2009. To download this publication, click here.
Promote was a joint working project between NCPC, King’s College London and St Christopher’s Hospice. The projects aim was to develop suitable mechanisms for for monitoring regularly the quality of care provided to patients with progressive or terminal illness, and for their families and to investigate the best ways of feeding back this information to service providers and commissioners. The Clinical Governance and Quality Committee of NCPC gave encouragement to this important project from its inception and was pleased to be associated with its findings.
To download this publication for free, click here (214KB)
The Older People’s Policy Group (OPPG) has been looking at the specific challenges and opportunities of meeting people’s palliative care needs in the housing setting. Sheltered and Extra Care Housing: an overview for health and social care professionals is the first publication in this series of work. It gives details of the housing models that exist. It is however important that this document is considered in line with other aspects of the OPPG work in particular, that on care homes, multiple morbidity and dementia
NCPC/Housing 21, March 2008 (A4, 10 pages) ISBN 978-1-898915-63-8
To download this publication for free, click here (116KB)
This guide is one of a series designed to help Health Overview and Scrutiny Committees (OSCs) carry out their scrutiny work around various health, healthcare and social care topics.
December 2009. To download this publication click here. (747KB)
This report outlines the process and findings of a joint project between the National Centre for involvement and NCPC, exploring ways to enhance communication about end of life care needs and preferences with dementia and their carers.
NCPC / Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust / Patient and Public Involvement Solutions, October 2009 (A4, 20 pages)
To download this publication for free, click here (456KB)
|
Advance Care Planning: A Guide for Health and Social Care Staff
(870KB)