FACING the “overwhelming” prospect of being diagnosed with a life-limiting illness is an area where Islanders will be offered additional support through a new initiative.
The Living Well Team, to be launched next month as a partnership between the Health Department, Jersey Hospice Care and other organisations in the sector, will focus on coordinating care for patients – addressing everything from physical needs to spiritual, psychological and social wishes – over their last 12 months of life.
Made up of five experienced nurses, based at Hospice headquarters at Mount Cochon but operating in healthcare sites across the Island, the team will also provide support for family members of those who have received a terminal diagnosis.
Dr James Grose, chair of the End of Life Care Partnership Group, said a review of the current service provision had shown that potential gaps in the period soon after diagnosis.
He said: “While specialist palliative care has been available to those whose condition may be deteriorating rapidly in the final stages of their lives, we also identified a large group who weren’t in that phase and were more likely to have social and psychological needs than physical issues.”
Rose Naylor, director of palliative care services for Hospice, said the initiative would encompass collaboration among health and care providers and a focus on personalised care and individual needs and wishes.
“The early days [after diagnosis] can be very overwhelming for Islanders and their families,” she said. “Going forward there will be more support available at that point in order to answer the many questions that arise and explain what will happen next.”
“The team will work alongside other health and care providers to support care that is co-ordinated and enables the person to live well in a way that is right for them.”
In a further development, a doctor and two nurse educators have been appointed to fill a need identified in the recent Palliative and End-of-Life Care Strategy for Adults in Jersey by training health and care workers, as well as family members, to deliver holistic and compassionate care for dying Islanders.
The trio of educators – including Dr Grose in one of the roles – will cover advance care planning and the importance of having early conversations with patients to learn how they wish to be cared for as their illness progresses. Symptom control will be another element, to help in easing symptoms such as pain, and nausea, to provide the best quality of life.
The new initiatives are co-funded by the Health Department, which overall covers 43% of Jersey Hospice Care’s costs, with the balance being made up by the wide range of fundraising events organised by Hospice.
Confirmation of the new schemes comes on the back of Dying Matters Week, which ran from 5-11 May with the aim of breaking down the taboo of talking about death and dying.
