Palliative Care
What is palliative care?
The care of people in the advanced stages of a life-threatening illness. It encompasses many aspects of supportive care, and is defined by NICE (the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) in this way:
“Palliative care is the active holistic care of patients with advanced progressive illness. Management of pain and other symptoms and provision of psychological, social and spiritual support is paramount. The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best quality of life for patients and their families. Many aspects of palliative care are also applicable earlier in the course of the illness in conjunction with other treatments.”
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Palliative care focuses on relief of pain and other distressing symptoms, and providing support to the patient, so that they can lead as active a life as possible, and to their carer(s), to help them to cope with the progress of the illness and their bereavement. The care given does not have as an intention either to hasten death or to prolong life.
Palliative care emphasises that dying is a normal part of living.
Pioneering work has been done by the hospice movement, founded by Dame Cicely Saunders, who established the first modern hospice, St Christopher’s, at Sydenham, South London in 1967. Hundreds of hospices have since been modelled on St Christopher’s. They very often have a Christian religious ethic.
Although hospices give outstanding care, free of charge, to people who are gravely ill, many who know they are reaching the end of their life prefer to die in their own home. This means healthcare professionals such as the GP and district nurse working with palliative care specialists, in order to enable this to happen. For patients with complex needs, the team of palliative care experts can deliver the sort of support associated with a hospice, but in their own home. This is sometimes called the ‘Hospice at Home’.
As well as palliative medicine consultants and palliative care nurse specialists, the team can include occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, dieticians, pharmacists, and others who are able to provide spiritual and psychological support.
How to find a provider
1. In the home
Research suggests that “carer fatigue” is one of the main reasons why terminally ill individuals who want to die at home are unable to do so. Therefore, increased support from palliative care professionals could be an effective way of ensuring that more people’s wishes about their end-of-life can be respected.
Some providers of general home care services can also provide palliative care in the home. If you and the person you care for have already established a relationship with a professional carer provided by an agency, you may all wish for it to continue.
There are charities which specialise in the care of terminally ill patients: for example, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Sue Ryder Foundation can both help with palliative care in the home.
The palliative care experts will work closely with your family doctor and district nurse.
2. In a hospice
Whether for permanent end-of-life care, or to provide a few days’ rest for the carer, admission to a hospice ensures dedicated palliative care.
This link will take you to a list of useful resources
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