Abstract
Network organisations are increasingly common in healthcare. This paper describes an example of clinically led networking, which improved end of life care (EOLC) in care homes, differentiating between a 'network' as a formal entity and the more informal process of 'networking'. The paper begins with a brief discussion of networks and their development in healthcare, then an overview of EOLC policy, the case setting and methods. The paper describes four key features of this networking; (1) how it enabled discussions and implemented processes to help people address difficult taboos about dying; (2) how personal communication and 'distributed leadership' facilitated learning; (3) how EOLC occasionally lapsed during the handover of patient care, where personal relationship and communication were weaker; and (4) how successful learning and sharing of best practice was fragile and could be potentially undermined by wider financial pressures in the NHS.
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