Standards of Care Development Process
The former APCA Standards Committee was charged with providing a lead in the care standards development process. Members of the committee were palliative care experts from across Africa.
Step One: Inaugural meeting for standards development process
Inaugural meeting for standards programme - January 2005, Johannesburg, South Africa.
The committee's terms of reference, mission, objectives and work plan were agreed at this meeting and priority areas were identified. Specific tasks included a review of available palliative care policies, guidelines, standards and any working documents within the APCA membership and also outside of Africa. Only South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda had either approved or draft care standards.
A first draft of standards was compiled using the collected standards materials. The draft was circulated to APCA committee members and other relevant stakeholders, including the then Advocacy and Education and Training committees for initial comments.
Step Two: Meeting to link standards with monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
Planning meeting to link standards with M&E - September 2005, Kampala, Uganda.
The first draft was circulated to the APCA M&E working group, with the resulting comments collated and incorporated. Members of this group outside the APCA committee included:
- Dr Stephen Connor
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organisation (NHPCO)
USA - David Caserett
NHPCO - Dr Richard Harding
King's College
London, England - Dr Carla Alexander
NHPCO
Dr Harding was appointed as a lead person in the development of the palliative care protocols, charged with reviewing the draft document and providing comments as a way forward to help with the process of APCA's care standards development.
Step Three: Review meeting, Cape Town, South Africa
The first draft of the standards was reviewed by the Standards Committee in December 2005, in Cape Town, South Africa. A second draft was then compiled for review at the next meeting.
At this meeting core areas for standards were reviewed and agreed. The Standards Committee members were allocated sections to review, adapt or redraft for compilation of the second draft.
Step Four: Review meeting, Nairobi, Kenya
A review meeting of the second draft of standards was held in February 2005, in Nairobi, Kenya. A review of the second draft was completed and a third draft compiled, which is currently ongoing further review.
Step Five: Elton John AIDS Foundation project : Grading standards
In July 2006, a project planning meeting was conducted to review the care standards development process and plan further way forward. The meeting accomplished the following:
- The project work plan was reviewed and agreed.
- A project advisory committee was identified and members officially invited to serve on the committee; all have accepted the invitation.
- Implementation of the project work plan has commenced.
- A review of home-based care programmes within Africa and beyond will be undertaken within the next few months.
- A review of existing palliative care standards in Africa and internationally to ascertain what is in existence and how these will inform the grading of care standards for this project will be done concurrently with a review of home-based care.