ALMOST nine in ten Islanders known to Jersey Hospice Care are now able to die in their preferred place, according to new figures.
The latest quarterly report from the Island’s Palliative and End-of-Life Care Partnership showed that 88% of people supported by Hospice died in their preferred place of care, compared with 82% earlier this year.
Among the other improvements identified in the report were that 100% of patients supported by the Community Specialist Palliative Care Team and Living Well Team now have advance care planning discussions and plans in place, where appropriate.
The report noted that supporting individuals who require a prognosis for expected death relies on “knowledge and compassionate communication”, and that clinicians must feel confident in initiating and holding these conversations with patients and their families.
To support this, the Education Team has developed new training covering advanced communication, advance care planning and the Gold Standards Framework for professionals across different roles. They have also launched a weekly “carers coffee club”, which is an hour-long session for carers to attend delivered at community sites around the Island.
However, the report also said that uptake of education sessions had been lower than capacity would allow, with the service recognising that releasing staff from caring roles to undertake training can be difficult. It said it was working to be “flexible and proactive” in tailoring sessions to learner needs.
The report also lauded the introduction of a dedicated advice line for health professionals, which received around 150 calls in the last quarter.
In its conclusion, the Partnership said that progress continued to be made towards improving the quantity and quality of palliative and end-of-life care for adults in Jersey, and that feedback from Islanders showed recently introduced services were already making “a positive difference to people’s lives”.
