Think different, think end of life care
Download (PDF 2.18 MB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Staffordshire created the 'Think Different, Think End of Life Care' report predominantly to answer the main research question of "What are the barriers to a consistent, holistic approach to End of Life Care (EoLC) through multi-disciplinary collaboration?"
After a public consultation, it was identified that End of Life Care (EoLC) was a priority for Healthwatch Staffordshire to focus their work on in 2017. The project was arranged and three task and finish groups undertook the work. These groups covered Advance Care Planning (ACP), Workforce Development and Pre and Post Bereavement Support.
Findings of the Advance Care Planning group included:
- The expectation that advance care plans must be completed is said to turn it into a meaningless, bureaucratic exercise for staff.
- Even though staff have been provided with training, not all staff feel confident enough to have conversations about ACP.
- Many individuals have no idea what ACP is, and therefore, have never thought about having one.
Findings of the Workforce Development group included:
- The cost of training staff members is currently too high to meet due to the reduction of funding across health sectors. The reduction in
funding pots across the county mean that health services have less money to put towards training needs.
- Staff workloads can also mean that they do not have the time to commit to training needs. This commonly results in cancellations
or dropouts for training in order to prioritise service delivery.
Findings of the Pre and Post Bereavement Support group included:
- Some participants reported that the support that they received was not individualised and did not take into account the personal wants and needs
- The bereavement support is only known to next-of kin due to their connection to the hospices. Therefore, only people who have accessed the hospice for a dying relative have any awareness of bereavement support. This is not always the case for people who have
had family members who died outside the care of a hospice
- While staff felt that the services they provided in hospices was good, external factors and resources make it difficult for pre and post bereavement to become consistent.
There are 4 detailed recommendations included in the report under the following headings:
1. Bring ACP out of EoL and into public domain.
2. Recognition of skills and value of bereavement service.
3. Being able to release workforce to attend training.
4. Utilising shared online systems
The final part of this report are of the form of a sales brochure, selling various services that Healthwatch Staffordshire can provide, including pricing.