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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
What nurses in their thousands told our third annual Nursing Standard-Marie Curie poll on end of life care provision
Almost two thirds (65%) of nurses say staffing shortages are the main barrier to providing good care to dying patients, an exclusive survey by Nursing Standard and Marie Curie reveals. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Around 80% of hospital patients will have swallowing difficulties in the last 72 hours of life, so the trust that runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals has introduced an alternative to nil by mouth which improves both patient experience, and allows loved ones to be involved in their care.
‘Taste for Pleasure’ means that when receiving end of life mouth care (cleaning and hydrating the mouth), hospital staff at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford (PRH), can use the patient’s favourite flavours to provide moisture. These flavours can be anything from blackcurrant squash to tea, all the way up to whiskey!
Young people who have learning disabilities commonly have many complex and severe life-limiting conditions that result in premature death. Too often neither they nor their family and friends are prepared for end of life situations. End of life care planning is helpful in eliciting and honouring the young person’s wishes, as far as possible. However, it can be challenging due to communication difficulties and limited understanding of the meaning of death and dying. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.