SUSAN MORRIS

COLUMNIST

TALKING about dying is never easy.

But creating a space to talk, and the freedom to make plans, is central to delivering care services which are sensitive to people’s needs.

Around 19,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Wales.

While more people are surviving, the reality is that some will have a cancer that cannot be cured.

Just like anyone living with or beyond the disease, people with incurable cancer have very individual needs.

The Welsh Government has recently published a three-year palliative and end-of-life care delivery plan.

It aims to support people and their families with high-quality care based on their individual needs and wishes.

Whether at home, in hospital or in a hospice, Macmillan Wales believes people should be supported to shape their care and, wherever possible, receive it in a place of their choosing.

Sadly, people’s preferences are not always met.

During 2015, there were around 65,000 hospital admissions for people in the last year of their life, more than 50,000 of which were through emergency departments.

While many of these admissions will have been unavoidable, it is a route that can make it far more difficult to meet people’s wishes, including where they plan and wish to die.

To ensure people receive their care, and approach the last days of their life in a place of comfort and of their choosing, we need to see increased communication and partnership working between primary and secondary care.

Since 2010 Macmillan has invested more than £20m in cancer care in Wales, including a £2m investment into services that support people approaching the end of life.

Central to our investment has been a focus on specialist facilitators who can help train and advise other health care professionals who are working with people with cancer who may need specialist care.

Alongside our NHS partners, we are also working to develop state-of-the-art care facilities, most notably through our work with Cwm Taf University Health Board to plan a new £6.75m specialist care unit at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital.

The new facility will provide a wide range of services for people with incurable cancer and other conditions, and will deliver these services in a sensitive environment designed to meet not only patient needs but also those of their loved ones.

In Wales, we are fortunate to have highquality specialist care services. Building on this will require a relentless focus on timely care planning, and clearly recording patients’ needs and wishes in a way that can be easily shared between healthcare settings.

Only then will we be able to ensure that people are supported to live as well as they can with an incurable cancer, and when the time comes, to end their days in comfort, dignity and wherever possible, in a place of their personal choosing.

If you have been affected by cancer and would like information and support from Macmillan, visit www.macmillan.org.uk or call the Macmillan Support line on 0808 808 00 00.

Susan Morris, head of services for Macmillan Wales