Changing attitudes to death, dying and bereavement
Dr Eva Lew, the Medical Director at Farleigh Hospice, talks about local events that are encouraging people to change the way they think about death, dying and bereavement.
“I have been the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (MSEICB) Clinical Lead for End of Life since September 2022. I'm responsible for the strategic direction of palliative and end of life care in the Mid and South Essex integrated care system (ICS) with a population of 1.2 million. I do this one day a week and it is separate from my role as Medical Director at Farleigh Hospice, but clearly sits alongside it.
As MSEICB Clinical Lead for End of Life, my mantra is that ‘education is the cornerstone to good care’ and that ‘end of life care is everybody’s business’. I have recently been involved in the organisation of two local conferences about changing our attitude to death and dying. If you took us back 100 years, most of us would have seen or cared for someone dying, but, over the years, we have taken death out of the community and medicalised it, putting it into a hospital setting.
The first conference, on 12 June, was about ‘Person-Centred Holistic Care at End of Life’. Its purpose was to normalise talking about the human side of death and bereavement, not just as a medical model of care. The audience was mainly Anglia Ruskin University students, including nurses and student healthcare professionals as well as ICS health and social care staff to encourage learning between present workforce and students.
Our speakers included Susanna, Farleigh’s Chaplain and Spiritual Care Lead, who talked about hope, humanity and hospitality. I spoke about why person-centred care is so important at end of life and Dr Guy Peryer talked about circles of care. A funeral director came along and spoke too, because most people have no idea what funeral directors actually do. We also focussed on our own personal lives and legacy through a facilitated workshop with Clare Turner, CEO of Huunuu.
The second conference on 18 June was about ‘Palliative and End of Life Symptom Control for Primary Care’. There has been a sustained increase in the number of people dying at home, which is where we're told people want to die, so we need to make sure that our primary care providers and our community providers have got the skills to meet that need. At this conference, we talked about end of life care planning, the importance of trying to be more proactive than reactive and focusing on the individual and their family.
The first conference, on 12 June, was about ‘Person-Centred Holistic Care at End of Life’. Its purpose was to normalise talking about the human side of death and bereavement, not just as a medical model of care. The audience was mainly Anglia Ruskin University students, including nurses and student healthcare professionals as well as ICS health and social care staff to encourage learning between present workforce and students.
Our speakers included Susanna, Farleigh’s Chaplain and Spiritual Care Lead, who talked about hope, humanity and hospitality. I spoke about why person-centred care is so important at end of life and Dr Guy Peryer talked about circles of care. A funeral director came along and spoke too, because most people have no idea what funeral directors actually do. We also focussed on our own personal lives and legacy through a facilitated workshop with Clare Turner, CEO of Huunuu.
The second conference on 18 June was about ‘Palliative and End of Life Symptom Control for Primary Care’. There has been a sustained increase in the number of people dying at home, which is where we're told people want to die, so we need to make sure that our primary care providers and our community providers have got the skills to meet that need. At this conference, we talked about end of life care planning, the importance of trying to be more proactive than reactive and focusing on the individual and their family.
Again, it was a cross-collaboration of some providers involved in the Mid and South Essex integrated care system. Primarily it was the three local hospices - Farleigh, St Luke’s and Havens - that were involved in speaking. Dr Abi Ponnampalampillai, Dr Claire Medhurst (one of our GP Fellows) and I talked about how to control specific symptoms at the end of life.
Dr Sue Griffith and our Education Team, facilitated a practical hands-on syringe pump training session which was very well received.
111 people attended and 100% said they would recommend this conference.
Farleigh Hospice is also contributing to the Mid and South Essex Compassionate Communities campaign which was launched in May 2024. This campaign is one of the work streams of the Mid and South Essex Palliative and End of Life Care Programme Board, and is a collaboration of healthcare organisations and the wider local communities - including universities, colleges, libraries and art galleries. It aims to improve awareness of death, dying and bereavement and to activate our communities to help to care for people towards the end of life, because delivering end of life care is the responsibility of everybody, not solely health and social care services. The Compassionate Communities campaign is holding an art exhibition in Chelmsford from 1 September to 3 November that celebrates living, caring and dying. The Exhibition will be held at the Arts Place in the Meadows Shopping Centre in Chelmsford from 1 September to 3 November 2024.
Doctor Eva said, "We are very much looking forward to showcasing people’s true creativity and imagination, and engaging our community in an open and sensitive discussion around an area that sadly touches all of us at some point in our lives. We hope that it will provide a way to bring meaning, expression and reflection.”
We are also hosting a regular Life and Legacy café in John Lewis to help to encourage our local communities to talk about this important subject.I hope that, by organising more educational and community events like these, we can continue to change attitudes towards end of life and bereavement.”
