Palliative Care Strategy 'top priority' for North

The implementation of a new palliative care strategy is essential for the North according to the charity, Marie Curie.

Marie Curie provides end of life nursing care to around 5,500 patients each year through its community nursing service, which is commissioned by the health trusts, and at its hospice in Belfast.

The organisation also offers a free support line and a wealth of information and support on all aspects of dying, death and bereavement.

Speaking at a Marie Curie-organised event in Stormont this week, Derry Woman, nurse Linda Cooper, whose father, Patrick Kelly (85) died at home in June, shared her personal experience of end of life care.

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Linda said: “Easy access to pain relief medication and having timely support from a healthcare professional out-of-hours and over weekends was necessary”.

“Every service and staff member that we encountered, although professional, caring and compassionate, didn’t seem to realise how their role was key in delivering the care needed to the patient, our dad. There was no real sense of a joined-up approach, just different cogs all doing their thing but not really engaging.’

“There is a great urgency for a new strategy for Palliative and End-of-Life (PEOL) care particularly now post Covid-19, where new challenges, gaps in the current services and care need have been identified.

“The strategy needs to be created with input from patients, families, and carers to ensure it delivers what the patients, like my dad, need. Its focus needs to be on working together for a common purpose.”

The main focus of the Stormont event was a call by Marie Curie for a 10-year palliative care strategy to be urgently approved by the Executive in order to prepare resources to meet the predicted need.

According to Marie Curie, the proposed palliative care strategy should be similar to the Northern Ireland Cancer Strategy published by the Department of Health in March (2022).

The charity said that by 2040 there would be a 30% increase in demand for people requiring end of life care in the community.
Joan McEwan, the charity’s Associate Director of Policy, described the strategy as “long overdue”. She also asked MLAs to pledge their support for the initiative.

Ms McEwan said: “Our last strategy was published more than ten years ago and sufficient resources were never committed to fully delivering it. A decade on and a pandemic later, we are in a much different landscape.

“We are faced with an ageing population who will need specialised end of life care along with people living with a range of terminal illness such as cancer and dementia, who should have a choice of where they want to die, safe in the knowledge that they will get the care and support they and their family need to make their last days as comfortable as possible.

“But approving a healthcare strategy like this is just the first step. It is a top priority and we need it to be fully delivered and fully funded. We are calling on MLAs to show their support and then we need them to deliver it for the sake of us all.”

Ms McEwan stressed the need to ensure a “better death for all” whether it was at home, in a care setting or at hospital.

She added: “Time is running out to bolster these services and key policy decisions will need to be taken soon if we are to deliver a palliative and end of life care system that is fit for the future,” she continued.”

Joanne Bunting MLA (DUP) who chairs the Assembly’s All-Party Group on Terminal Illness, added her support to Marie Curie’s call.
Ms Bunting said: “Over the pandemic, Northern Ireland has experienced a huge increase in deaths and bereavement. It prompts the question, ‘Are we in the best position to give people the best end of life?’ The answer, sadly, right now, is, ‘No’.
“Our palliative care services are guided by a strategy that is over six years out of date, which doesn’t give the wrap-around care that those living with a terminal illness deserve. We are also not in a position in Northern Ireland where those dealing with a bereavement can easily access the support that they need.”