108 Scottish palliative care guidelines: usage data & user survey analysis

<h3>Background</h3> The Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines (SPCG) were transferred from their original website, to the Right Decision Service (RDS) in September 2023. This allowed integration and alignment with Scottish Government and HIS to deliver local and national guidelines through RDS as a single resource platform, additionally allowing access to SPCGs through a downloadable app. <h3>Methods</h3> In order to evaluate the value of this toolkit for health and care professionals, usage data of the SPCGs was gathered following conversion from the original website to RDS platform. Additionally, a survey of health and care professionals was conducted between July-August 2024. This considered the impact of the SPCGs on practice and learning, as well as identifying areas which work well and areas requiring improvement to enhance usability and value for practitioners. <h3>Results</h3> i) Usage Data: SPCG usage data demonstrates significantly rising views and usage of the guidelines across the UK, not solely in Scotland, and mounting international reach. Following SPCG RDS launch, there has been over one-million views and the guidelines have been accessed from 180 countries. From 2020 to September 2023–2024, there has been 189% increase in SPCG annual homepage views. ii) User Survey Results: The user survey was accessed via the RDS app and website; 61 respondents completed the survey. 80% indicated the SPCG toolkit has a high impact in improving practice and decisions surrounding patient care and 74% advise the toolkit has a major impact in improving knowledge and skills. Respondents also highlighted key areas for improvement; 46% experienced difficulty in navigating to specific information, 25% indicated the layout or content structure could be improved. <h3>Forward Steps</h3> In response, several changes have been proposed to optimise search functionality and navigational hierarchy. Changes will be consulted with a user focus group initially and then implemented for user acceptance testing thereafter.