Background & Aims

Perinatal Antenatal Neonatal Palliative Care (PAN-PC) was formed in 2018, with aims of fostering collaboration between antenatal or neonatal palliative care providers in Queensland. Clinicians from tertiary perinatal centres, the tertiary children’s hospital palliative care service, and the children’s hospice hoped PAN-PC would aid communication across diverse organisations, foster collaboration, reduce unnecessary duplication and facilitate sharing of resources. 

Methods 

PAN-PC meets quarterly, with hosting duties rotating around member sites and utilising videoconferencing. Multi-professional members arise from maternofetal medicine (MFM), neonatal intensive care units (NICU), neonatal retrieval service, paediatric palliative care service, bereavement services, general paediatrics, and also include a consumer representative. The initial metropolitan focus has expanded to include regional centres.  

Recent perinatal palliative care activity in each unit is summarized, with discussion of challenging clinical cases or urgent new referrals, and a case reflection is shared by the host team each meeting. Shared documents are developed and reassessed over time. Upcoming education opportunities are promoted and education collaborations arise. Service improvements, clinical audits and research are discussed, as well as updates from palliative care or relevant clinical networks. 

Results: 

PAN-PC has enhanced collaboration, provided a forum for discussion of complex or distressing cases, and improved communication between services. Gathering together has built relationships, enhanced understanding of respective workloads, and enabled familiarity with teams’ locations and resources, resulting in greater appreciation of our peers. Collaborative development of a perinatal dual referral form to both paediatric palliative care and hospice teams has provided a more streamlined referral process and improved family access to services. PAN-PC has partnered with QuOCCA since 2019 to hold neonatal palliative care education programs, aiming to build workforce capacity and skills.

PAN-PC is an innovative collaboration which seeks to continue to improve service provision for families and strengthen relationships between perinatal service providers.