Walsall Together: End of Life & Palliative Care Pathway Family Member / Loved Ones Engagement Report
Download (PDF 474.32 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Walsall engaged 41 family members and loved ones to capture qualitative data on care pathways.
Communication between staff and family members was highlighted as the main area for improvement. There were some comments that discussions with family members could be improved around condition management, next stages of care, and discharge arrangements. Some family members informed us that their loved one wanted to die at home or in palliative care but by the time arrangements were to be made the patients’ health had deteriorated making discharge difficult.
Whilst a sizeable proportion of family members and loved ones had been offered bereavement support through the palliative care team and hospital there were inconsistencies that meant some people were not offered support or that they required bereavement support at a later date but did not know where to turn to.
Accessing continuing healthcare packages have in some cases been a challenge for patients and family members as noted in this report. Getting the appropriate and timely care package where possible is essential.
A number of recommendations were made in the report.