End of life care at home is often provided to those who are in the last days, months or years of their life. Many people choose if possible to receive end of life care at home rather than in a hospice or hospital. At Gardiner’s our aim when providing end of life care at home is to do our bit to help support you to live with dignity during their final days, weeks and months of your life.
We will ask you about your wishes and preferences, and then plan and deliver your care accordingly. Community nurses will usually visit you at home at we will work closely with them. Your family and friends may be closely involved in caring for you too and we will help to support them also.
Palliative care is provided if you have an illness that cannot be cured. It’s goal is to make you as comfortable as possible for example by managing pain. Palliative care is distinct from End of life care since some people may receive palliative care for some time prior to end of life care. Palliative care will often involve many healthcare professionals working together including your GP, your community nurses and perhaps care providers such as Gardiner’s.End of life is considered to be when we are likely to die within the next 12 months.
End of Life care can often be provided at home. We can help support you to workwith your local authority to organise any equipment that you need to help you remain at home, this could include home adaptations, such as hand rails or special beds to help avoid pressure sores.
Not everyone feels comfortable helping family or friends with personal care. It is in situations such as this that Gardiner’s is often asked to help and it is something that we are very used to supporting with in a dignified and respectful way.
Sometimes people live at home but visit a hospice during the day. In this situation Gardiner’s are very happy to help support with overnight care.More information about palliative and end of life care
If you would like to talk to us about Night Care at Home, please do call –Please do call us on 0118 334 7474 if you would like to talk about how Gardiner’s may be able to help.
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A really interesting article in praise of end of life care at home, written by Johnathan Freedland and published in the Guardian in May 2012.
In praise of end of life care at home
In death – as in life – my mother was rescued by love. Nearly 11 years have passed since I last broke my own rule and wrote in this place about something deeply personal. Then, in the summer of 2001, it was the birth of my first child and the article was a hymn of praise for the National Health Service that had ushered my son into the world.
Today I write about my mother, who died 10 days ago. Once again – though this is not my only aim – I want to record my praise, even awe, for the people who looked after her. It was not so straightforward this time. Yes, the NHS funded it all, but my mother was tended to – at home in Bournemouth – by a variety of agencies, some public, some voluntary and one private.
I confess that before this experience, I would have been wary of such an arrangement. But my prejudices were confounded. The team worked together with perfect efficiency, a coalition of Macmillan and Marie Curie nurses, agency staff, NHS district nurses and care assistants and the local GP. Not once did any information slip through the cracks. It meant we could fulfil our promise to my mother that she would spend her last weeks not in hospital or in a hospice, but at home.
At no point, despite all the equipment and expertise that came through the front door, was money so much as mentioned. Never were we confronted with a choice of a cheaper option or a limit to our “cover”. My mother got all the care she needed and no one presented her or us with a bill. That is the glory of our national health system, one we take for granted too easily. It is a treasure to be cherished.
To read the rest of the article click here
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