We must be brave enough to stand up for best care
WE all, rightly, expect that at the time of being born people should receive the very best levels of care and support.
It’s something that we all know is important.
But, when it comes to care provided when someone is dying, it can be much more of a lottery in terms of the experience both the person and those closest to them have.
Sometimes recognising if someone has palliative or end of life care needs can take time, or if people have multiple or complex illnesses or symptoms, the route to them getting access to specialist care at places like hospices, if appropriate, isn’t always as straightforward as it could be.
I’ll never apologise for banging the drum about ensuring equality of timely access to specialist, appropriate care for anyone who needs it at the end of their life.
As a society we’re often scared to talk about death and dying, but that’s simply not good enough – we need to break down barriers, stop it being a taboo, and be brave and bold enough to stand up for the very best care at what is a vulnerable time in people’s lives.
At St Ann’s we’ve been providing palliative and end of life care for more than half a century. We’re proud to be experts.
And as experts, it’s vital we share that knowledge, skills and expertise to help continue to drive up standards and support colleagues across the health and social care sector.
We share that experience in lots of ways – collaborating with health and social care professionals across Greater Manchester and beyond. But, this year, we’ve decided to also share our knowledge by developing a range of training and education courses.
We’re hoping that the courses will help people gain an insight into some of the key areas around the provision of palliative and end of life care, helping to further improve the experiences of those who need it. Highlights in the coming months include ‘Basic skills for teaching and training,’ and a workshop which gives an insight into ‘Inequalities in palliative care,’ particularly for professionals supporting members of the homeless, LGBTQ+ communities and people with learning disabilities who have traditionally faced barriers when accessing end of life care.
Most of the courses are available as both in person or online sessions, and anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome.
We won’t stop there either. Our brand new hospice building which we will soon be starting to build in Heald Green will have a Specialist Centre for Palliative Care Education.
We know this will be a great way for us to continue to share specialist knowledge with other organisations, and also to help continue to drive excellence in palliative and end of life care locally and nationally.
That’s something we’re extremely proud of.
Until then, I will continue to shout as loudly as possible to raise awareness of the importance of talking about death and dying, and about raising standards and equality of access for everyone who needs it – so hopefully it will one day be as high on the agenda as giving birth too.
People in Greater Manchester and beyond deserve world-class care, and we want to provide that from right here in Stockport.