Evaluation of Preferred Place of Care (PPC):
Towards quality improvement

Background to the project

Honouring care preferences and priorities of patients is a key component of high quality palliative care, but it requires knowledge and understanding of those preferences. Preferred Place of Care (PPC) is an advance care planning tool recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance, Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer and endorsed as one of three major initiatives by the EoLC Programme. The initiative is centred on a patient-held document intended to enhance communication, clarification, and facilitation of patients’ preferences for care at the end of life. Early piloting and promotion of PPC took place by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Cancer Services Network making the network office the central repository for returned PPC documents.

Although the PPC is a nationally endorsed initiative, PPC would benefit from further evaluation. The examination of how people experience the process of completing the PPC, how people perceive its influence on communication, and its perceived value as an advance care planning tool is especially critical at a time when national policies are highlighting the importance of advance care planning and patient-centred decision making.

About the study

The primary aim of this study is to evaluate how PPC is perceived, utilized and experienced by patients, family members and professional health care providers who have used the document. Qualitative research methods will be used. One-time individual in-depth interviews will be conducted face-to-face with patients, family members, and professional health care providers who have used PPC. The interviews will examine users’ perceptions, understanding and experience of PPC including their evaluation and recommendations of document content and format.