Staff Are Key to Hospice Care: Executive Support Needed for Essential Health Workers
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Summary
The care provided is known as palliative. It relieves pain or alleviates a problem without dealing with the underlying cause. It comes into its own in the care of people suffering from incurable illnesses. The word comes from the Latin palliativus, which is itself derived from the verb palliare, meaning to cloak. Cloaks offer comfort, warmth and protection. At their best, that is also what the 21 adult hospices, specialist units and one children's hospice provide for terminally ill patients in Scotland.
There is plenty of evidence in the first national review of these services, published yesterday, of their sterling work. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS), which conducted the review and is responsible for improving the standard of health care, concluded: "Without exception, the people providing this care demonstrated commitment, enthusiasm, skill and compassion. There is a human warmth about this service . . . that brings comfort to people who are dying and to their families and those who care about them." The people who fund-raise for hospices, and the many more who dip into their pockets, will be heartened by these words. They give money for buildings, equipment and facilities, trusting that the NHS will provide the staff to make the most of the service on offer. However, there is also evidence in the review that the cloak of care is becoming threadbare, threatening the quality of service. It found there were very few specialist palliative care consultants. Many have to work "intolerable" hours to maintain a service that is already thinly spread, and a shortage of specialist nurses is having a particular effect on out-of-hours care. By dint of their condition, patients should have round-the-clock access to medical and nursing cover. QIS deems it essential. However, none of Scotland's 19 hospices could offer 24-hour access because of current staffing levels. Too few staff are also the reason why the service falls below standard in other areas.See the full content of this document
Extract
Staff Are Key to Hospice Care: Executive Support Needed for Essential Health Workers
Hospices have been of great bene...
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