Nearly two-thirds of Britons want to see end of life care made a priority by the new government, yet the subject of dying is still such a taboo for so many people. According to research from this year’s Dying Matters Awareness Week (18-24 May 2015), many find the conversation distressing and unsettling, however there is a benefit to having this discussion in advance. Doctors need to be informed of what a patient wants, and these conversations need to be communicated clearly in order to become necessary and beneficial.
A new project, Working Together, improving end of life care through better integration, developed in partnership between Skills for Health, Skills for Care and the National Council for Palliative Care, has helped to develop new training materials, which aim to increase awareness and further understanding of the importance of professionals working together to support people at the end of their lives.
The training pack reflects the project’s finding that people involved in delivering end of life care find it helpful to talk to other workers and people with the experience of using those services, as it helps them understand how they could work together to provide better care and support. A ComRes survey commissioned by the Dying Matters Coalition found that 79% of people agree that quality of life was more important to them than how long they lived, highlighting the importance of providing the best quality care to patients.
The project brought together a wide range of people from different backgrounds, including professionals and people with experience of end of life care. A network of people, identified as being committed to improving end of life care and known as “champions”, were brought together in a series of workshops to explore their own experiences and discuss what mattered to them.
All resources and films included within the training pack are available to download online, including:
- It helps to talk, a film looking at the importance of communication. The fictitious film is based on real-life experiences, telling the story of a person with motor neurone disease who conveys her end of life wishes to her son and sister
- Ready-made PowerPoint presentation for individuals to conduct their own training
- Practical messages for frontline workers, an interactive PDF
- Educational project resources including a key messages hand-out, project summary and project guidance.
- A film, Understanding roles, working together for better end of life care, in which key professionals, alongside a person using end of life care and a carer, describe their roles in end of life care. This film has an accompanying booklet
Anne Barrett, a Skills for Health Associate who worked on the project, said: “We set out with an aim for this project to improve end of life care by encouraging people to work together in an integrated way and provide guidance to individuals in daily practice. These new resources help to extend the supportive environment and enthusiasm for best practice generated in the workshops – and put this into daily working practice. End of life care is a sensitive subject area but not one that should be ignored; the key messages that were developed will help those in the front line within every day practice provide even better care.
“We want patients to worry less about their health and make the most of every day, knowing that they have the support they need.”
This project was made possible by Health Education North Central and East London, which was awarded funding to run seven end of life care projects in its area.
Every year in May, Dying Matters hosts a range of events around the country with the aim of getting people talking about dying, death and bereavement and making plans for their end of life. Dying Matters is using the hashtag #YODO (You Only Die Once). Find out how you can support this week of awareness-raising here.
If you would like to find out more about how Skills for Health can help support you and your organisation, please visit our website or contact your regional director to arrange a meeting. Access regional directors’ details here.
Content on this page is produced and paid for by Skills for Health, sponsor of the Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network’s workforce development hub
