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Health: Dignity in dying
IN GOOD HANDS: St Gemmas patient Roy Windross with staff nurse Noreen McDonald.
A new plan in Leeds is aiming to further improve care for those at the end of their lives. Katie Baldwin reports on that and looks at some of the initiatives already underway in the city.
IT’S still one of the biggest taboos. Death and dying is something most people don’t want to think about.
But when a patient is told they are terminally ill, preparing for the inevitable is crucial. Their wishes need to be known so they can be cared for in the way and at the place that they want.
Palliative, or end of life, care has developed hugely over the past decades to become a high priority for the health service.
An array of services have sprung up, all with the patient at their centre.
A major blueprint for palliative care is also being launched to provide a clear direction for the development of end of life services over the next five years. The fourth Leeds Strategic Framework for Adult Palliative and End of Life Care replaces the Leeds Strategy for Palliative Care, which covered 2006 to 2009.
Developed by the Leeds Palliative Care Strategic Group, organisations from across the city have contributed to the strategy which aims to reduce the number of deaths in hospitals and increase the proportion of people who can die in the place that they choose.
But already, services in Leeds for those at the end of their lives and their families are constantly improving.
The city’s two hospices, Sue Ryder Wheatfields in Headingley and St Gemma’s in Moortown, are at the centre of providing palliative care.
No longer simply a place to go to die, they offer day and in-patient care as well as outreach in the community.
They also will pull out all the stops to fulfil requests at the end of the person’s life – even if that is rather unusual. In the past they have arranged weddings and welcomed all kinds of pets to the hospice, from a litter of puppies to a cockatoo.
St Gemma’s Ward Manager Judy Hustwit said: “Hospice care is about the whole person, not just their clinical needs.
“We’re very much a home-from-home for patients and, for those who have spent a long time in hospital, they may not have seen their family pet for weeks and weeks, so it can mean the world that the dog can curl up by their feet or they can take him for a walk in the grounds.
“People are often surprised by how St Gemma’s Hospice is full of life and laughter, rather than being a ‘place to die’. It’s important to us to maintain this atmosphere.”
Patient Roy Windross said that care makes a big difference.
“The team are absolutely wonderful. They make me laugh, they feed me well,” he said.
“They care for me like I am the only person on the ward. I couldn’t wish for anything more.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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