DEVELOPING THE CAMBRIDGE PALLIATIVE AUDIT SCHEDULE (CAMPAS) - A PALLIATIVE CARE AUDIT FOR PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE TEAMS

Background. Problems with the provision of palliative care have been r eported Audit is one means of improving care. Earlier audits of primar y care palliative care have been initiated by general practitioners (G Ps) and are predominantly retrospective record reviews. Widely applica ble methods for the audit of primary care palliative care do not exist . Aim. To develop relevant palliative care standards and to devise an audit schedule (the Cambridge palliative audit schedule, CAMPAS) suita ble for monitoring palliative care in diverse primary care settings. M ethod Primary health care ream (PHCT) members collaborated at all stag es. Reasonable outcomes and acceptable interventions for PHCTs were id entified and standards developed. Each standard was constructed to ens ure uniform interpretation, and CAMPAS was structured to collect data necessary for determining whether the standards were met Results. Over 50% of PHCTs (n = 20) in the health district were recruited and train ed to use CAMPAS. A total of 876 contacts with 29 patients was recorde d by PHCTs using CAMPAS. Considerable inter-and intra-PHCT variation w as found in the achievement of the standards. Conclusions. The favoura ble participation rate suggests commitment to audit and improvement in patient care. Overall, the standards were reported to be suitable. Al though 100% achievement of some standards may be unrealistic, the leve l of attainment for many suggests that it is possible. CAMPAS has been reported to be a useful structure for recording assessments and monit oring care, as well as a usable audit schedule. As an audit tool, it i dentified areas in need of improvement and facilitated feedback to par ticipants. Future audit is required to determine whether improvements in care have been effected.