North East Palliative and End of Life Care Collaborative

Background

The North East is one of the most disadvantaged areas of England. End-of-life care needs are shaped by high levels of disability, physical and mental ill-health, in some of the most extreme urban/rural/coastal contexts. To support innovation and evidence-based practice, a critical mass of palliative and end-of-life care research expertise is needed. This is missing in the North East - our application begins to address that gap.

Aims and programme of work

Our aim is to develop research and capacity in the North East to enhance local and national palliative and end-of-life care. Our objectives are to: • Develop a self-sustaining research culture in North East palliative and end-of-life care • Evaluate our data infrastructure and identify areas for development

• Develop end-of-life research collaborations around older age, frailty, multiple long-term-conditions and inequalities • Convene a diverse patient and public advisory group and identify training needs • Support NIHR Innovation Observatory (NIHRIO) to develop a searchable platform for palliative care intelligence/

• Produce at least one research and three fellowship applications to submit in stage 2 Methods

Working with patient and public partners and key stakeholders from local NHS Trusts, hospices, social care, our NIHR infrastructure (Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), Innovation Observatory (NIHRIO), School for Public Health Research, (SPHR) Comprehensive Research Network (CRN), Research Design Service (RDS)), we will use established and innovative approaches, to develop partnerships and palliative/ end-of-life care research with real world impact.

Work package 1. Fostering and sustaining a research culture (Months 1-12)

Online/in-person events/seminars (n=6) accessible to people with limited research experience, will stimulate ideas, offer an educational component and provide a focus for regular networking. Involving research-interested social care and allied healthcare practitioners will be a priority. Work package 2. Evaluating our data infrastructure (Months 0-4)

We will interview key stakeholders (