The Palliative Outcomes Initiative (Poi) makes palliative care more widely available by strengthening relationships and collaboration between palliative care specialists and local GPs and residential care facilities.

Harbour Hospice's Poi team includes staff from specialties such as nursing, psychotherapy, medicine and cultural care. They work with doctors, nurses and aged-care facilities from North Shore to Mangawhai, supporting them to identify patients in the last 6-12 months of life and develop strategies to improve their overall quality of life in the time they have left.

GPs are paid to hold 30-minute consultations with patients who have palliative care needs, then produce a plan to implement with support from their local Hospice's multidisciplinary Poi team. Because it doesn't require a formal admission to the Hospice service, Poi is ideal for patients with chronic illnesses who don't need specialist care, or feel they're not ready for Hospice. 

Nurses and doctors with a special interest in palliative care are encouraged to attend training and take that specialist knowledge back to their workplaces to put learnings into action. 

Poi was developed by the Auckland Specialist Hospices using special innovations funding from the Ministry of Health.

Would you like to be a Poi Link Nurse?

The Poi Link Nurse Programme develops palliative care nursing champions within residential care and general practice. It aims to forge collaborative relationships to support greater communication and access to hospice services, education and advice.

If you are passionate about palliative care, we invite you to click the link below to apply for a one-day workshop. Here you will join other like-minded nurses and develop skills in working with a palliative care approach, identifying patients who would benefit from a palliative care approach, developing palliative care plans, and providing support to other staff in your organisation.

The training is provided free of charge and Harbour Hospice will contribute to the cost of backfilling your position while you attend the programme, via a $400 payment to your organisation. The training includes a further two days' immersion in your local Hospice.

As a Link Nurse you will:

  • Be supported to attend Palliative Care Link Nurse Learning Labs every three months at your local Hospice
  • Be supported within your workplace through education, coaching and training by our Hospice Poi Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) In-Reach Team, Specialist Palliative Care Community Team and Hospice Educators
  • Help develop and distribute resources in your place of work
  • Help make changes in your workplace that promote best practice palliative care
  • Gain a greater understanding of the local palliative care network and the national standards for palliative care.

If you have further questions, please feel free to reach out to the Poi Team at poiadmin@harbourhospice.org.nz and/or click on the button below.

This project is designed to ensure that all people who need it can have access to expert palliative care. Working with the teams in primary care and in residential facilities has been really rewarding, as they are all so keen to learn more so they can provide the best care possible to everyone who needs it

professor-Rod-MacLeod
—Professor Rod MacLeod