Nov 03, 2023 | News
Palliative care is the name given to the specialist care given to a person as they approach the end of their life. It is sometimes known as terminal care or end of life care.
Palliative care can take place in hospital, in a hospice or in a care home, but many people prefer to spend their final days, weeks or months in the comfort and security of their own home. Palliative care at home and during nursing is centred around promoting dignity, compassion and comfort, as well as support for family and friends. It aims to alleviate a person’s suffering, while furthering quality of life.
What does palliative care at home involve?
As a person nears the end of their life, the focus of care shifts to helping them live as well as possible, and to die with dignity. High-quality palliative care is tailored to the person who needs it, with their preferences and choices taken into account at every stage.
A key part of palliative live-in care at home is managing and reducing pain, to help make the person receiving palliative care as comfortable as possible in familiar surroundings. This is done through medication, but can also involve therapies such as massage.
Communication is also crucial, between the person receiving care, their carer and the family and friends. Good palliative care will treat everybody with respect and sensitivity.
Depending on the person’s condition, care will also involve practical help with day-to-day tasks, such as washing, dressing and eating. It will include liaising with other healthcare professionals coming into the home.
What are the benefits of palliative care?
Palliative care at home has numerous clear benefits for the person receiving care. Person-centred care allows them to spend their final days on their own terms, in their own home and surrounded by their belongings as well as their chosen friends and family. It means they can take the time to reflect and prepare for what comes next, free from pain and suffering.
But palliative care also has numerous benefits for the family and friends of those receiving care, too.
In fact, research has found that introducing palliative care sooner rather than later in patients with a terminal diagnosis can lead to improved quality of life for their family care-givers, and lower levels of depression among their family and friends.
This is because knowing that a loved one is comfortable, content and being treated with sensitivity and compassion is hugely reassuring. It also lowers the pressure on family caregivers, with professional carers able to provide dedicated, personalised care and support during a very difficult time.
If you or a loved one would benefit from compassionate end of life care and support, contact OxleyCare today.