The Anticipatory Care Plan (ACP) Programme celebrated its third birthday in April 2023. Over the past three years, the ACP  Programme Team, hosted by Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) has been working with staff and the public across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) to raise awareness of the importance of thinking and planning for the future. 

Jennifer Watt, ACP Programme Manager said: “Planning your care allows you to be in control and lets others know what is important to you. This means we can all work together to make treatment plans that are unique to you and respect your wishes.

“At the heart of this is a conversation between individuals, those people who are important to them, for example a relative or carer, and their health or social care professional. The decisions made during these conversations are recorded in a document called an Anticipatory Care Plan (ACP).

“Our aim is to build compassionate communities that aren’t afraid to break taboos and talk about death, dying and bereavement in a way that also celebrates life and each unique individual. We also want to show people that future planning is for everyone. It doesn’t need to focus solely on end of life decisions. For instance, it is also a tool for unpaid carers to think about what might happen to the person they support if they are no longer able to provide the same level of care.”

Over the last three years, the team have trained over 750 health and social care staff to improve their confidence to start the conversation about writing an ACP. This has resulted in thousands of people recording their views and wishes on our ACP Summary. This summary is recorded on the NHS system and can provide staff and services with insight into who the person is and what matters to them.

Jenifer continued: “We have also run numerous events to bust myths and break taboos when it comes to talking about the future and the topics of death, dying and bereavement. In 2022 to 2023 alone, we had over 600 people sign up to various sessions and the feedback was phenomenal. 

“Staff said that it had definitely made them think about what is most important to the people that we support and the sessions were informative, relaxed and practical.

“Recently we also spoke with various community groups, including Knightswood Connect and the HSCP’s North West Glasgow Locality Engagement Forum. These events gave people an opportunity to ask us questions and suggest how to raise awareness of these topics.”

A recent survey to determine the impact of the ACP Programme and gain insight into future promotion was completed by 531 members of staff and 94 members of the public. The responses from the public showed that there is still some work to do to promote anticipatory care planning, but positively 92% of staff had heard about ACP with over two thirds, aware of the team and resources available on the website. 

Both staff and the public felt that using social media would be a good way to spread our messages, they also identified the need to have public information sessions – something which the team will be looking at going forward. 

Many survey respondents identified that staff initiating conversations during appointments would be helpful. This is something the team is working very hard to achieve with a range of training offers available to all staff in order to increase their confidence. 

Various working groups have also been established to help promote the ACP. These include local groups in each HSCP, a Care Home Group, a Hospice Group and a Secondary Care Group. The team will continue to work with them in 2023 to 2024 to promote ACP across NHSGGC and its HSCPs.

You can keep up to date with all the activities the team are involved in by following them on Twitter (@NHSGGC_ACP), visiting the webpages (www.nhsggc.scot/planningcare) or joining their mailing list. You can also email any questions to ACPSupport@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.