Rehabilitation should be expanded within palliative care, expert says

Karen Charnley: 'It’s in a number of the hospices but there could be more of it and there could be more professionals linked to it.' Photo: Moya Nolan

More access to rehabilitation in palliative care is needed as it can give patients a better quality of life over time, a palliative care expert has urged.

Palliative care is often associated only with the final days of life but new approaches now offer a wide range of supports for people with life-limiting conditions and their families.

Karen Charnley is chief executive of the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care. She said rehabilitation can be integrated into palliative care.

“(This) focuses on comfort and adapting to loss of function, on maintaining independence and quality of life,” she said.

She saw the benefits for a family friend recently. He had been very ill in a hospice but discharged home after treatment.

“Then he accessed day-care and outpatient services where he was being supported with rehabilitative palliative care,” she said. “This was supporting him to keep walking, keep doing his daily activities that were really important to him.” 

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She added: “He had a further year...And in that year he was able to meet his grandchild and have a better quality of life.” 

Centres such as the Waterford Hospice Movement or Marymount University Hospital & Hospice in Cork offer supports including occupational therapy (OT) to patients. Ms Charnley called for more focus on this.

“Sometimes it can be helping people to restore what they’re losing because of their condition,” she said. “It is positive and it’s included in the National Adult Palliative Care Policy.” 

She said: “There are already services in a number of the centres across the Republic of Ireland that focus on that. It’s in a number of the hospices but there could be more of it and there could be more professionals linked to it.” 

The team could also include physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, nurses as well as doctors.

“I suppose not all hospices would have that full team but I’d say the vast majority have OTs and physios. Speech and language therapists are increasingly in the different centres,” she said.

Ms Charnley was speaking ahead of the All Island Palliative Care Practice Conference in Newry on Tuesday.