The recent report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, Systemic anti-cancer therapy: For better, for worse? (November 2008), highlights the importance that should be placed in allowing patients to make informed choices when they reach the end of life or when diagnosed with a terminal illness. Improved clinical and organisational care is also rightly required.
Hospices have extensive experience of supporting people at the end of life. Many hospice-based palliative care clinicians also work in hospitals and are well placed to support and advise those facing the end of life in terms of appropriate treatment options.
Olivia Belle, Director of Communications at Help the Hospices, said: “Again and again, research has demonstrated dramatic improvements in the physical and psychological wellbeing of those who receive good palliative care as they face the final stage of their lives. Many patients who are admitted to hospice inpatient units are able to go back to being cared for at home again due to good symptom management, with the knowledge that support and care will continue to be available to them.”
Good palliative care is one of the key elements behind the ethos of the hospice movement; one of the UK’s great success stories and regarded by some as one of the greatest social innovations of the last hundred years. The vision of a hospice is to give everyone at the end of life the best possible care.
Hospice services are free of charge to the patients and families who use them.
Currently, there are 63 NHS palliative care units in the UK with just 675 beds. This is compared to 2,189 beds which are provided by independent local charitable hospices. This does not take into account the thousands of patients who are seen by home-care teams and those who attend hospice day care services. But the government pays on average just 31% of the costs for adult hospices in England.
More needs to be done to develop the most appropriate care pathways and support healthcare professionals, including oncologists, palliative care specialists and nursing teams to achieve optimum care for their patients – whether in acute care, primary care, tertiary care or at home and in the community.
For media enquiries please contact:
Bansree Takodra
020 7520 8251
b.takodra@helpthehospices.org.uk
Katie Brewin
0161 881 7753
k.brewin@helpthehospices.org.uk
