HEALTH organisations have linked up with groups across the county as part of Dying Matters Week to highlight to Redditch residents that help is at hand should the worst happen.
Members of the Worcestershire Palliative and End of Life Care Network include the Primrose Hospice, Acorns Hospice, Kemp and St Richard’s Hospices, Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, Marie Curie, Macmillan Cancer Support, West Midlands Ambulance Service, Worcestershire Association for Carers, Clinical Commissioning Groups and the county council.
Together they have introduced advanced care planning, helping patients take control of what happens to them in the last stages of life, and pioneered a web-based platform to share palliative and end of life care information for patients who have given their consent for their medical records to be shared with health professionals.
The network has also secured money to provide seven-day-a-week access to palliative care nurses.
Other schemes include the introduction of ‘Just in Case’ boxes ensuring patients have the necessary medication at home ‘just in case’.
Dr Maggie Keeble, end of life champion, GP and chair of the Network, said every year more than 5,000 people in Worcestershire die and many more are diagnosed with cancer and other serious conditions.
“Thankfully, and increasingly, a cancer diagnosis, for example, is not necessarily a death sentence but can of course still be a very traumatic experience,” she said.
“This can be a very lonely time for people and their families.
“Our aim is to provide a consistent approach for patients, their carers and family members across all the organisations who make up the Network.”
The Primrose Hospice is promoting Dying Matters Week through an online campaign, using social media sites.
Dying Matters Week runs until this Sunday (May 14). For more information, visit http://www.primrosehospice.org/home
