As the coordinator of William’s healthcare team, you need to conduct a scan of services and resources available in your local council area, and produce a report and plan for the team. This should: •...

As the coordinator of William’s healthcare team, you need to conduct a scan of services and resources available in your local council area, and produce a report and plan for the team. This should:

•    Identify the patient and family needs (palliative care and the many other relevant needs either the patient or his family may have).
•    Describe the resources in your community that might be used to meet the needs of William and his family (including hospital, hospice, primary health care, acute care, community health care, aged care, local governments… These are examples – you should do a thorough scan of services available in your local community).
•    Explain how the services and resources you have identified in your community will address the needs of William and his family, and identify any needs that might need additional support sourcing from elsewhere.

•    Action plan indicating which services are highest priorities, and how you, as a healthcare professional, would connect William and his family with the most relevant services and resources.
•    Note that you should choose an address for William within your local council area. Consider any clues from the video relating to where he lives and choose a similar location if possible
Activity 4: William's story
William is a 60-year-old man who grew up in a large family in a regional area of Australia. Over the years, like many of his generation, he has seen amazing improvements in the quality of health care and life expectancy. This is due to such things as the introduction of immunisation, antibiotics and new medical technology.
William has also seen how family structures have changed. He has seen the introduction of aged care facilities to care for frail older people who were previously cared for by their families at home.
William is faced with the possibility that he may be diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. William is concerned about a change in his normal bowel habits and has gone to his GP for advice.
Activity 9: William - One year later
It's been one year since William's colonoscopy showed he had stage III colorectal cancer, indicating regional lymph node involvement. Over the past year he had a colon resection and six months of chemotherapy. He has been seeing his GP every two months and has been attending the outpatient colorectal clinic every six months for follow up.
On his 12-month follow up, liver metastases were found. His cancer is now considered stage IV colorectal cancer. Palliative chemotherapy is available in some situations to control such advanced disease. However, William has worsening liver function and is physically too unwell to tolerate chemotherapy.
The surgeon has indicated to William that his prognosis is poor. William and his wife Gladys are at the GP's surgery to discuss what the oncologist from the colorectal clinic has recommended.
Activity 10: William's illness progresses
William has now developed significant pain from his liver metastases and his GP has referred him to a specialist palliative care service. The specialist team keeps in close contact with the GP and his community nurse.
William and his wife are talking to the community nurse and discussing his current needs. Having assessed how he's managing physically, the community nurse recognises that William is becoming less mobile and is increasingly fatigued.
The community nurse begins to explore with William and his wife future options for care as his disease progresses and he becomes physically more frail.