The Missing Bridge in Advance Care Planning: volunteers, empathy and time to have conversations

People most likely to die in the next year are unlikely to have been asked what matters to them most. Frailty remains a hidden and often neglected trigger for advance care planning, regardless of age or cause, leaving many patients to enter repeated crises and over-medicalised decision-making. Our team will share their compassionate volunteer led model that creates a bridge to earlier, more human care choices. Biographies: Care choices volunteers: the care choices service is essentially run by volunteers as a unique compassionate community of individuals connected by a desire to harness their innate compassion of humaness to benefit others. Many are attracted by their lived experience, some with medical backgrounds and all recognising the power of empathy and time with which individuals approaching death can be enabled to reclaim some control. The Clinical team (providing oversight, governance, training and supervision): Dr Lindsey Crockett BSc (Hons), MBBS, MRCGP, DFSRH (Senior Partner). Qualified in 1999 and was a GP in Surrey until January 2010 when she moved to Suffolk and has since been full time Senior partner at a multi site coastal and rural practice. She also works in a strategic role as the clinical steward for End-of-Life and frailty care for the Integrated Care Board for Suffolk and Norfolk. Lindsey is also the pioneer and service lead for the recently re named care choices service across Ipswich and East Suffolk. The service has attracted such interest that it is being adopted in Colchester and Norwich. Lindsey combines her medical expertise with a passion for compassionate care, guiding the services ambition to support individuals holistically with true empathy and with no borders in their final year of life. Bill Thompson, Clinical assistant and service administrator. Bill applies his extensive experience as a former Speech and Language Therapist within the NHS to his role, providing logistical, training and governance support alongside his innate compassion to volunteers and patients. Kate Barber, Clinical lead Nurse. Kate has an extensive background in clinical palliative care, combining her nursing skills as the ESNEFT clinical nurse specialist for motor neurone disease. With great compassion and wisdom, Kate provides the clinical input for patients and volunteers for successful service delivery. www.AdvanceCarePlanDay.org #AdvanceCarePlanning #frailty #AdvanceCarePlanDay #FutureCarePlanning #FutureCarePlan #NHS #whatmattersmost