Raising awareness about palliative care

What do you know about palliative care?

With Palliative Care Week taking place from September 9 – 15, the Northern Health and Social Care Trust has created a new booklet which it hopes will make a difference for patients and carers.

It contains information about the main palliative services within the Northern Trust, how they can help, and how to contact those who deliver them.

Talking

Explaining more, Fiona Gilmour, Macmillan Palliative Care Service Improvement Lead, said: “By palliative, we mean a condition that is not curable. People can live with a palliative condition for years, and can still be getting treatment.

“Palliative care is about much more than end-of-life, and it can make a huge difference at all stages of illness, once a cure is not possible.

“This year the main theme of Palliative Care Week is ‘You, Me and Palliative Care’. It’s an opportunity to get people talking about this type of care, while encouraging greater understanding about what it entails, and how it can benefit those who are ill, and their families.

“We want to share information and practical resources to advise about our services so people know what physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual support we can offer if the need arises. Being aware of these services, and taking the steps to access them, can make a huge difference, helping both the person with a life-limiting condition and their family, friends and carers as well.”

Working together

Palliative care can be provided in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes and in a person’s home. It often involves a wide range of health and social care professionals and voluntary organisations who work together alongside the patient, their family and carers.

As well as the new booklet, online resources are available from Compassionate Communities NI which are designed to aid our understanding about those involved in the provision of palliative care. This includes a series of videos featuring different palliative care professionals as they discuss their role, including a district nurse, Marie Curie representative, pharmacist and hospice services.

Fiona added: “Palliative care services can help in a variety of ways, at different stages. The aim is to support a person to manage their condition as well as possible to improve quality of life.

“We work in partnership with the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC) who organise the campaign every year, and we recognise the value of collaborating to achieve a better, richer experience of palliative care for people with life-limiting conditions.”

For more information about palliative care services in the Northern Trust, and to read the new information booklet, go to www.northerntrust.hscni.net/services/palliative-care/.

If you would like hard copies of the booklet please email palliativecare.events@northerntrust.hscni.net or phone 028 9442 4000 Ext 336511.

Find out more about the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care.

Read the Palliative and End of Life Care Services booklet.

 

10th September 2024