Calls for ‘end-of-life co-ordinators’ at every big hospital
About 40 community and acute hospitals are now participating in the foundation’s flagship programme, Hospice Friendly Hospitals (HfH), which was launched last May by President Mary McAleese.
The foundation is anxious that a permanent structure is put in place to progress the work already started.
Programme manager Mervyn Taylor said it could already see that in the long term there would be a need for all leading hospitals to appoint end-of-life co-ordinators.
About 30,000 people die each year in Ireland and while most people want to die at home, two-thirds die in a hospital setting and four out of 10 die in acute hospitals.
The Mater Hospital in Dublin is the latest hospital to join the HfH programme and is one of three big hospitals developing standards in relation to end-of-life care for use in hospitals generally.
Hospitals will be expected to use the standards for self-assessment and in their quality improvement processes to develop better end-of-life care for patients and support for their relatives.
The standards may also be used by other agencies, such as the Health Service Executive and the Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly when investigating complaints against hospitals.
The HfH standards development team is based at the Mater, which is already implementing patient-centred practices such as the widespread use of appropriate family hand-over bags and sensitivity around sending out bills.
Last year the Mater took part in a review of the organisation and design of the hospital and services provided for dying patients.
Some improvements are being undertaken in the hospital, such as the refurbishment of the mortuary and of a relatives’ room in A&E.
While 40 hospitals are involved in phase one of the HfH programme, more hospitals are ready to come on board in the second phase.
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