A national review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found that people from certain groups in society are experiencing poorer quality care at the end of their lives than others because providers and commissioners do not always understand or fully consider their specific needs.
The author reflects on the results of the National Survey off Bereaved People. Topics covered include the percentage of respondents who rated the overall quality of end-of-life care for their relative as outstanding, the lower percentage of respondents who evaluated hospital case as outstanding and the reasons for the stagnation in the survey results. Also mentioned is the commitment to promote high-quality care for adults at the end of their life. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Individuals with an intellectual disability are vulnerable to having end-of-life decisions made for them merely due to the presence of a disability. As a result, decisions made by others may not reflect the exact wishes of the individual. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Lwing at HM Prison Norwich is not a conventional setting for healthcare. It is home to 15 prisoners with extra and palliative care needs, including dementia and cancer. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you requesting.
This article, the second of two, provides healthcare practitioners with an overview of best practice in palliative and end-of-life care, including nutrition, hydration, oral hygiene and pain management. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
The Department of Health have published a response to an independent review on choice in end of life care.
It details the six commitments that the government has made to the public to end variation in end of life care across the health system by 2020
Discover how Leeds Teaching Hospitals provided a tailored approach to training, in the final of a suite of case studies focused on enhancing end-of-life care.
In addition to trust-wide training opportunities, the palliative care and end-of-life care specialists offered bespoke departmental teaching and focused interventions to improve care within specific clinical areas.
Findings demonstrate that families hold an inherent capacity to make meaning of the death and enact family thereafter. Family relations arose as interplay of different, contradicting forces. Nurses should facilitate families’ meaning-making of the death, attend to their converging and diverging sense of loss and strengthen family caring. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Despite informal caregivers' integral role in supporting people affected by disease or disability, economic evaluations often ignore the costs and benefits experienced by this group, especially in the palliative setting. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify preference-based instruments for measuring care-related outcomes and provide guidance on the selection of instrument in palliative care economic evaluations. Open Access Article
A team from HM Prison Norwich has received the Gold Standards Framework Quality Hallmark Award – the first national recognition of care provided to prisoners in the final months of their lives. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Learning from existing good practice examples, listening to the experiences of our staff, and feedback from our patients and families, led to production of a draft ‘same day discharge home to die pathway’. Widespread consultation was undertaken with staff across the trust.
“We recognised that there were many good examples of rapid discharges home, but this was not always consistent, particularly where same day discharges to die at home had been identified, and where prevention of delay is paramount”.
When adults with cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or heart failure at the end-stage of life received specialized home-based end-of-life care (multidisciplinary care, including specialist palliative-care nurses, family physicians, palliative-care consultants, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nutritionists, and social care workers) more died at home compared with usual care (on average 591 versus 444 died at home per 1000 people). Usual care varied considerably across studies; two trials used home care but this was not specialized end-of-life care. Moderate-quality evidence detected no differences between groups in terms of admission to hospital during 6 to 24-months follow-up or the number of inpatient days in two years.
The materials are a response to a survey by Age UK and the Malnutrition Task Force that shows conversations about death are taboo for many people.
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Children’s hospices are a key provider of palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. However, despite recent policy attention to the provision of paediatric palliative care, little is known about the role of children’s hospice staff and the factors that may impact on their wellbeing at work. This study explored the rewards and challenges of working in a children’s hospice with an aim to identify staff support and development needs.
Open Access Article
The nutritional needs of patients receiving palliative care should be routinely assessed, taking into account disease trajectory and nutrition-related symptoms. The social and emotional aspects of eating and drinking should also be acknowledged; as should the distress that weight loss and anorexia engenders in patients and their families. Practical strategies to optimise nutritional intake are discussed. Open and sensitive communication of patients’ needs and wishes is essential, especially when discussing complementary nutrition approaches. A holistic, multidisciplinary approach is key to meeting nutritional needs, and the goals of nutritional intervention should be regularly reviewed in the light of disease progression.
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