Multidisciplinary patient records in a palliative care setting.

Multidisciplinary team working is essential to the delivery of specialist palliative care. Recent government initiatives have focused on improving the quality of patient care through a collaborative approach. The palliative care directorate of the Thames Gateway NHS Trust developed a patient record system that could be utilised by all health care professionals. An audit was carried out and showed that the new documentation, which provides only one set of records, improves the clarity of information, enhances communication, avoids duplication and helps to maintain the continuity of the patient's journey.