A new piece of work setting out how good, coordinated or integrated care looks like to people near the end of their life has been published today (Monday 2nd March) by National Voices, the National Council for Palliative Care and in partnership with NHS England.
The Every Moment Counts narrative draws on surveys and testimonies of bereaved carers and end-of-life charities – as well as the reflections of professionals who have highlighted failures in coordinating and personalising the different elements of End of Life Care – in order to highlight a range of personal experiences.
People have also outlined five themes that they say are key to coordinated care near the end of life. These are summarised as:
“I can make the last stage of my life as good as possible because everyone works together confidently, honestly and consistently to help me and the people who are important to me, including my carer(s).”
Our Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: “CQC fully supports the narrative for person centred End of Life Care, which clearly articulates the quality of care which everyone should be able to expect at the end of their life. We are using the narrative in our thematic review of inequalities and variation in End of Life Care to describe what good care looks like, so that we can understand why people's experience of End of Life Care often falls short of this."
Don Redding, Director of Policy, National Voices, added: “The last months and weeks of life are when health and care services spend most time and money on us. Yet we know there are many gaps in coordinating the multiple inputs that people are receiving. We hope this new vision will inspire professionals to take a more person centred approach.”
You can read more about the Every Moment Counts narrative and follow the #EveryMomentCounts hashtag on Twitter.
CQC fully supports the narrative for person centred End of Life Care, which clearly articulates the quality of care which everyone should be able to expect at the end of their life.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals