24.07.14
Hospice charity wants to cut hospital deaths with NHS help
A national hospice charity has called on the government to back a programme which aims to reduce the number of people dying in hospitals by 50,000 each year, while providing better care for end of life patients.
The new programme from Help the Hospices has proposed a partnership between the NHS and the hospice movement to fund six nationally co-ordinated pilot projects to evaluate the impact of hospice led interventions in reducing unnecessary deaths in hospital that would begin in April 2015.
The charity says this could help reduce around a fifth of the total annual hospital deaths in the UK, and believes it will lead to higher quality, better targeted care for dying people and could generate savings of up to £80m per year for the NHS.
Former Conservative party leader Lord (Michael) Howard, chair of the charity, said: “Hospital has become the default option for dying people and for an increasing number of frail elderly people. Hospital should be the last resort at the end of life, not the first one.
“This has resulted in inappropriate and often poor quality care that completely fails to support dying people’s actual needs and deprives them of alternative care options. It also places considerable pressure on the NHS, which is already straining at the seams.
“Hospices can provide the solution by leading moves to provide and facilitate alternative forms of care, whether through their own inpatient units or working closely with their local hospital to deliver alternative options.”
In response to the call, the Department of Health said it was looking into improving care options at the end of life.
Earlier this month, the Department announced a review into choice at the end of life which will be undertaken by an independently-led programme board chaired by Claire Henry, chief executive of the National Council for Palliative Care. Its findings are due in February 2015.
She said: “We welcome this initiative by Help the Hospices and share their concerns about the importance of tackling the challenges in care for dying people.
“We only have one chance to get it right for people who are dying, which is why there needs to be a much greater focus on meeting people’s end of life wishes, including by supporting more people to be cared for and die in the community rather than in hospital which for many people isn’t where they want to be.”
With regards to the Help the Hospices programme, the charity says that following completion of the potential pilots, the programme could then be rolled out nationally from April 2017.
Care and support minister Norman Lamb said: “We want to make sure that care for people nearing the end of their lives is compassionate and reflects their wishes, including their preferences about where they want to receive care.
“I welcome Help the Hospices’ commitment to improving care at the end of life and their willingness to work with the NHS.”
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