Irish Hospice Foundation – Msc Bereavement Studies applications now open

Are you are a health, social work or mental health practitioner whose work brings you in contact with bereavement and loss? If so, the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Msc in Bereavement  Studies may be of interest to you. This part-time programme accredited by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) has been developed to equip participants with an understanding of bereavement and loss from a theoretical and practice based perspective.  Year one comprises six core modules, completion of which will result in a Postgraduate Diploma in Bereavement Studies. Students completing a further three modules in year two,  including advanced research methods and a practical bereavement support development project will be eligible for the MSc.

Applications (which must be made online) for the September intake are currently open via the RCSI website HERE 

The deadline for completed applications is Friday May 4th.  If you are interested in applying for this course additional details and the course prospectus are available on the Irish Hospice Foundation website HERE

New Seanad Public Consultation report on rights of elderly draws on findings of ‘Primary Palliative care in Ireland’

The Seanad Public Consultation Committee released its recommendation report on the rights of older people on Wednesday (March 28th).  The report calls on the government to put forward the case for the drafting of a UN treaty on the rights of older people.

Among a wide range of recommendations were transport allowances, reform of mental capacity legislation and a review of carers allowance payments to non-habitual residents.

The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) was among a number of stakeholders who informed the consultation. The  report outlines end-of-life care recommendations set out by the Irish Hospice Foundation including the development of a formal framework for delivering palliative care through primary care teams as detailed in the Primary palliative care in Ireland report.  These include the establishment of  24 hour palliative care advice service and the provision of specialist training in end-of-life care for General Practitioners, these steps should enable the more than 80 % people with end stage diseases who wish to die in their own homes to do so.

The full Senad debate with stakeholders from November can be accessed HERE  and report in full can be accessed HERE 

 

Palliative Medicine Information service

The regulation and administration of medicines for patients under palliative care can be a complex and challenging  task even for experienced healthcare practitioners.

To provide support for such practitioners the Palliative Meds Info service was launched in September 2010. Based in the pharmacy department of Our Lady’s Hospice Harold’s Cross, the service provides phone and email support on all aspects of medication for patients under palliative care from dosage and delivery methods to side effects and reactions.

The service, funding for which was provided by a development grant from the Irish Hospice Foundation has been expanding since its launch and has now developed a dedicated webpage. The Palliative Meds Info webpage which includes medication guidelines, patient information leaflets and newsletters can be accessed HERE   

Primary Palliative Care in Ireland – New report launched

Author of the report, Marie Lynch; Development manager Irish Hospice Foundation (L) pictured with Irish Hospice Foundation CEO Sharon Foley

The Irish Hospice Foundation last week launched  its new report Primary Palliative Care in Ireland: Identifying improvements in primary care to support the care of those in their last year of life”.

The report, a collaboration between the Irish Hospice Foundation, the HSE and the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) is the work of the Primary Palliative Care Steering Committee which was established in 2010 to embed palliative care in primary care settings.

Speaking at the launch of the report, chairperson of the Primary Palliative Care Steering Committee Dr Paul Gregan, acknowledged that with more than 90% of the last year of life spent at home, care for patients nearing the end of their lives is provided predominantly in a primary care environment. A recording of report author Marie Lynch, development manager with the Irish Hospice Foundation addressing the launch is available HERE 

In order to identify supports and work towards a formal framework for primary palliative care the Primary Palliative Care (PPC) programme conducted a survey in ten HSE Local Health offices during 2010. Survey findings outlined in the report indicate areas for skills development, service development and education. Some of the key findings from respondents include;

•  A desire for enhanced communication skills for interacting with patients and families at end-of-life
• Development of patient information transfer systems
• Improvement of out of hours services
• Training in end-of-life care

Taking the survey findings on board the programme now moves into the implementation phase.

You can download the report in full HERE or obtain a hard copy by contacting the Irish Hospice Foundation  on 01 6755975

 

Workshops in loss and bereavement 2012 brochure now avilable

 The Irish Hospice Foundation bereavement resource centre’s series of workshops on loss and bereavement will commence again on January 19th.

The workshops which address the spectrum of grief and loss are aimed at professionals and volunteers working in bereavement support and those wishing to learn more about bereavement theory and processes.

Workshops,  each of which are either one or two full day sessions run from January until late June with 23 titles being offered for the 2012 series. Topics covered range from suicide and addiction loss to communication skills for non clinical staff and creative arts in bereavement. Among the additions to the 2012 titles is ‘Grandparents grief; a complexity of losses‘ and ‘Final Journeys‘ a training input originally developed by the Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme to provide healthcare professionals with communication skills and insight to improve support and understanding around end-of-life care.

The workshops have accreditation of  two (for one day sessions) and six (for two days) CPD points from the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) and post registration category 1 from An Bord Altranis. Further details and booking enquiries can be made by contacting the Irish Hospice Foundation and the full brochure can be downloaded HERE

Public Information Day – The who, what, where, how & why of palliative care service

Are you interested in finding out more about Palliative Care services ?

As part of the Cuisle Beatha Galway University Hospital Palliative care conference ‘Pain pathways in cancer pain & chronic pain; similar pathways separate pathologies‘ an information day for the general public will be held on October 15th.

Speakers on the day include;

• Dr Dympna Waldron, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Galway University Hospitals (GUH) – Roscommon County Hospital (RCH) – Roscommon Home Care Team

• Dr Tony O Brien; palliative care consultant, Marymount Cork who will provide an introduction to and overview of palliative care.

• Dr Ita Harnett;  palliative medicine consultant Galway Hospice & Mayo general hospital. Dr Harnett will provide details of palliative care services available in the West.

• Mervyn Taylor;  Manager of the Irish Hospice Foundation’s Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme and the Forum on end of life will discuss feedback from the end of life forum.

The day will conclude with a public forum featuring a panel of experts. The forum offers the opportunity to raise questions and engage with issues relating to all aspects of palliative care service and delivery.Members of the public are invited to email questions to the expert panel on   publicforumgalway@gmail.com

The day should facilitate both healthcare professionals and members of the public gaining insight into palliative care practice and services.

Additional details including registration and contact details are available on the Cuisle Beatha website.

Palliative care and dementia – conference September 27th

Though advanced Dementia is a debilitating condition necessitating the management of a range of complex symptoms similar to that of patients in the terminal phase of malignant disease the provision of palliative care to dementia patients has (until recently) been inconsistent or poor.

In 2008 the Irish Hospice Foundation published ‘Palliative care for all; integrating palliative care into disease management frameworks‘ which was part of the extending access investigation aiming to extend palliative care provision beyond cancer to other chronic, life limiting diseases (like Dementia).

Following on from recommendations of the report action research projects are currently underway exploring the provision of palliative care to patients with advanced respiratory disease, heart failure and advanced dementia.

The advanced dementia action research project which operates in conjunction with Clare Mental Health Services and Milford Care Centre will explore and present on the issues in delivering palliative care to dementia patients in a one day conference on September 27th. The conference titled ‘Palliative care & dementia; seeking a platform for consensus’ will provide input on; delivering palliative care to dementia patients, developing a dementia care strategy, findings from the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland’s open conversation project and outcomes from the dementia palliative care project to date.

Further details, contacts and booking information are available HERE – Palliative Care Conference 

The conference is aimed at healthcare professionals working in elder care, palliative care, mental health services as well as primary and social care professionals.

Palliative care as a human right

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers palliative care an essential component of cancer care. Despite this millions of patients with end stage cancer, HIV and other terminal conditions are unable to access palliative care or adequate pain medication in their final days.

Human Rights Watch has this month released a report detailing barriers in  accessing palliative care and pain relief.  The report ‘Global state of pain treatment‘ is the result of detailed survey of 192 countries carried out through 2009 and 2010. Their findings indicate that despite the adoption of the 1961 Single convention on narcotic drugs strict control of opiates in many developing countries combined with inadequate training of medical staff in pain management results in many terminal patients suffering unnecessarily. Less than 1% of patients reporting moderate to severe pain in the terminal phase of illness had access to sufficiently strong medication. The report also indicated that despite WHO recommendations, 30 of the surveyed countries did not have an official palliative care policy.

Some encouraging progress was noted with countries like Uganda, Colombia and Vietnam making significant forward strides in the integration of palliative care services and provision of opiates to terminal patients.

The full report can be downloaded HERE  and pages 56-57 illustrates data on the provision of opiates and percentage of terminal patients per European Country.

Bereavement resources booklet – 2011 update available to download

Therese Brady Library - Bereavement Resources booklet 2011

Last year the library compiled a booklet of bibliotherapy titles for bereaved people informed by the Irish Hospice Foundations bereavement leaflets. The booklet has now been updated and expanded to include both public and professional support material as well as information about the Therese Brady Library and QR links directed to further resource listings in the resource sections of the blog.

The professional resources section  lists recommended titles and online tools for; palliative and end-of-life care, Bereavement theory and support, self care for professional carers, working with bereaved children and bereavement in schools.

You can download the booklet in PDF format here – Bereavement resources 2011

Europe-wide survey reveals priorities for end-of-life care

Europe-wide survey reveals priorities for end-of-life care.

A new study of end-of-life care preferences in the UK, the Netherlands, Belguim, Portugal, Spain and Italy conducted by Kings College London has revealed that for many the quality of their remaining time outweighs quantity of remaining years.

The study, conducted by EU funded PRISMA consortium (based in KCL) addressed peoples attitudes to issues around end-of-life care like dealing with pain, the buden of being cared for by a loved one and the value of extending life in cases of serious illness.

71% of the 9339 people surveyed indicated they would rather improve the quality of the life they had left with only 4% of respondents stating they would wish to extend life.  Professor Irene Higginson, head of PRISMA sees the findings as an indication that more emphasis needs to be placed on patients priorities for care at end-of-life.