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An introduction to public health approaches to end of life care

Linda Morris Project Facilitator

www.compassionatecommunitiesnw.com

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• Public health approaches are those that encourage individuals to take responsibility for their own health and wellbeing

• Compassionate Communities is a public health approach to end of life care

What is a public health approach to endof life/palliative care?

• Compassionate Communities is a public health approach to end of life care

• Community development approach

• Communities have the skills, knowledge, expertise and a role to play in end of life care

• End of life care is a social as well as a medical issue.

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Why Do We Need

Compassionate Communities?

• People are living for longer with long term/chronic conditions and with that demands on health and social provisions are changing

• More people live alone, do not have family nearby and are isolated• More people live alone, do not have family nearby and are isolated

• 70% of people who are at the end of life want to live and die at home

• The reality is that 70% of people die in hospital or a nursing /care home and for many there is no medical reason for them to be in hospital. (50% die in hospital)

• There is a need to support those facing end of life, loss and bereavement

• Funding from the Local Commissioning Group

Compassionate Communities in Action –What Does It Mean?

• Funding from the Local Commissioning Group

• A pilot project based in the Waterside

• Community engagement

• Awareness raising

• Reach Out -a Compassionate Neighbours scheme

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Pilot Areas: Caw,

Victoria

and

Clondermott

Life Cycle of Compassionate

Communities

HSC

professional or

Community

Person’s needs

are matched Review of

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Community

Group

Manager

identify and

refer person

to local

coordinator

are matched

with skills of

one or two

volunteers and

initial visit

organised

Type of

support and

frequency of

contact agreed

between

volunteer and

person

Review of

ongoing

support and

involvement

at regular

intervals

The Role of a Compassionate Neighbour

• Visit once a week for 1-2 hours

• Visits are restricted to Mon- Fri, 9am – 5pm

• Could involve trips to the local shops, enjoying a shared interest, introduction to local hobby groups

• Not personal care

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The overlooked palliative care ‘facts’ that make this approach important

•The longer part of dying and grieving occurs outside of institutional care and episodes of professional care

•Palliative care is also about grief and loss

•Dying, loss and grief are not medical matters but rather social relationship matters with medical dimensions. (Dying is not an ingrown toe nail and grief is not normally a psychiatric problem)

Key challenges

•Recognizing the limits to service provision

•Restoring end of life care to the wider public health sphere ofpolicy, practice, and language•Restoring end of life care to the wider public health sphere ofpolicy, practice, and language

•Understanding and facilitating the principle that end of life careis everyone’s responsibility

•Attracting and involving public health colleagues into end-of-life care

A role for Derry City and Strabane District Council?

• Include a public health approach to end of life care

in the Community Plan

• Include Compassionate Communities in the Civic • Include Compassionate Communities in the Civic

Forum

• Work to become a Compassionate City

Contact Us

• Linda Morris

Compassionate Communities - Project Facilitator

Telephone 02871 351010

• Tracy Gray• Tracy Gray

Compassionate Communities – Volunteer Co-ordinator

Telephone 02871 351010

www.compassionatecommunitiesnw.com

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Thank You –

Questions & Answers

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