Hospice care is about living well, for as long as possible
When you think of hospice care, what comes to mind?
Maybe a room, a bed, a nurse sitting beside someone nearing the end of their life.
For many people, this is still the picture hospice care conjures up. But it tells only part of the story.
Today, specialist palliative care can support people much earlier in their illness, sometimes months or even years before the end of life. It can help people living with cancer, heart disease, respiratory and neurological conditions and other serious illnesses, as well as the families caring for them.
People are living longer with serious illness. Treatments are changing, and people are moving between hospital, home and community services more than they did in the past. Throughout this time, the support people need can change, too.
Someone might be managing well at home for a while, then suddenly need more help. A family member may find themselves caring for someone they love and not know where to turn. Someone else may desperately want to stay at home but need the right support around them to make that possible.
It might mean helping someone get difficult symptoms under control, helping a family understand what is happening, giving someone the confidence to remain at home, or helping a person think through their choices while they still have choices to make.
Alongside medical treatment, specialist palliative care can help people manage their symptoms, understand their options and get support with the practical and emotional challenges of living with serious illness.
At ellenor, the focus is on understanding what matters most to each person and how best to support them. That support might be clinical, emotional or practical. It may involve the patient, their family or both.
And it does not always need to happen in a hospice building.
Much of hospice care takes place in people’s own homes. Hospice teams also work in care homes and hospitals, alongside other health and social care services.
The important thing is that people can get the specialist support they need, in the place that is right for them, as their needs change.
Think about all the people who may be involved in someone’s care when they are living with a serious illness.
There could be a GP, hospital consultant, community nurse, pharmacist, social care professional, hospice specialist, family members and volunteers.
They each have a different part to play. Good care means making sure they work together, so the person and their family don’t have to work out how everything fits together themselves.
We are used to healthcare being centred around appointments, referrals and treatments, followed by another appointment. Yet serious illness rarely follows a timetable.
People need information when they are frightened. They need advice when something changes. Families need support when caring becomes difficult. And sometimes what matters most is simply having someone who understands what they are going through.
This is something hospice care has always understood.
A diagnosis does not tell you who someone is. It does not tell you what they are worried about, what they hope for, who they love, or what a good day looks like for them.
Good hospice care looks at the person, not just their illness. It recognises that everyone has different needs, priorities and wishes, and that these can change over time.
Public understanding of hospice care has not always kept pace with the support hospices provide. More people need to know that specialist support can be available well before the end of life, and that they do not have to wait until they reach a crisis to seek help.
Good care is not always about doing more.
Success might mean someone being comfortable enough to sit in their own garden, helping a family have a difficult conversation, or making it possible for someone to remain at home. It might also mean giving someone back a little control at a time when so much feels beyond their control.
For someone living with a serious illness, being able to do something as simple as sit in their own garden can mean a great deal. Good hospice care is about helping people hold on to the things that matter to them, for as long as possible.
At Christmas, when time with family and friends can mean so much, this support can be particularly important. For people living with serious illness, and the families around them, specialist care, practical help and someone to turn to matter throughout the year.
That is what hospice care is here for: helping people live as well as possible, for as long as possible, while supporting the people closest to them.
