Hospitals ‘denying patients dignity in death’
The study entitled Design and Dignity — A Baseline Review is the first review of the facilities and services offered by community and acute hospitals to dying patients and their families.
It is estimated that 60% of Irish people die in hospitals with four out of 10 people dying in acute hospitals.
The Irish Hospice Foundation, which commissioned the report, said its findings highlighted how some hospitals were clearly no longer fit for modern purposes.
In particular, the study found that older hospitals with little modern refurbishment were generally not designed to provide general and end-of-life care.
The survey carried out a detail survey of 20 acute and community hospitals around the country and examined the buildings in terms of accessibility, privacy, ambience, environmental control, mortuary facilities and the ability to accommodate patients with diverse cultures and religions.
Only three out of the 20 hospitals obtained a score of 30 points or more out of a maximum total of 60 points.
Prof Cillian Twomey, consultant geriatrician at Cork University Hospital and St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork who launched the report, said the IHF had deliberately decided not to release details of how individual hospitals had performed in the survey.
“We did not want to create a league table as it would undermine what we are trying to achieve,” he explained.
He pointed out that many hospitals had elements of good practice in relation to care for the dying, although some improvements had been carried out in isolation rather than as part of an overall programme of development.
The report noted that less than 2% of wards in hospital comprise of single-bed rooms.
“The lack of single rooms and use of multiple bed bays means that patients and relatives are not afforded the dignity that they deserve,” it concluded.
Prof Twomey said single rooms in hospitals, which would usually be the accommodating of choice for dying patients, were largely being used for isolation purposes to prevent the spread of MRSA.
The report recommended that all new hospital buildings should in future include a minimum of 50% single rooms to improve privacy, confidentiality and dignity. Other recommendations include:
* The closure of large wards to make space for other uses such as relatives’ overnight accommodation.
* The eradication of mixed wards and bays.
* The development of multi-faith centres/reflective spaces to reflect the growing number of people with different religions and faiths to Catholicism.
A total of 40 acute and community hospitals are currently participating in the first phase of the five-year programme to improve their physical environment for patients and their families in conjunction with the HSE and the IHF’s Hospice Friendly Hospitals project.
IHF spokesman Mervyn Taylor said the aim of the programme was “to put hospice principles into hospital practice”.
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