Search results for ‘Subject term:"end of life care"’ Sort:
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A survey of end-of-life care in care homes: issues of definition and practice
- Authors:
- FROGATT Katherine, PAYNE Sheila
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 14(4), July 2006, pp.341-348.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Care homes throughout the UK provide long-term care for frail older people. Whilst care homes are a home for life, many of the older people living in this setting also die there. There is increased interest in improving the care that older people receive in care homes towards the end of life. One way to achieve this has been through links with specialist palliative care services. The knowledge held in care homes by staff, residents and their family carers has yet to be fully integrated into this work. Consequently, a postal survey of care home managers in one English county was undertaken to examine the characteristics of end-of-life care for older people in these care homes. The authors sought to establish the managers' understanding of end-of-life care; the extent to which dying and death is present in this setting; the attributes of the resident population living in these care homes; and the availability of resources to support the provision of end-of-life care in this setting. The survey identified that managers held diverse understandings regarding the meaning of end-of-life care. The features of the residents' conditions and the dying that they experience requires a different way to conceptualise end-of-life care. A longer-term perspective is offered here that encompasses the whole period of a person's residence in a care home.
Experiences of end-of-life care in community hospitals
- Authors:
- PAYNE Sheila, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 15(5), September 2007, pp.494-501.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper examines patients’ and family carers’ experiences of end-of-life care in community hospitals. In-depth organisational case studies were conducted in six community hospitals in the south of England. Interviews were undertaken with elderly patients dying of cancer and other advanced conditions (n = 18) and their family carers (n = 11). Qualitative analysis of transcribed interviews were undertaken, using the principles of grounded theory. Patients and family carers valued the flexibility, local nature (which facilitated visiting) and personal care afforded to them. Most participants regarded community hospitals as preferable to larger district general hospitals. The research reveals that these participants regarded community hospitals as acceptable places for end-of-life care. The implications of the findings for improving end-of-life care are then discussed.