Hospice Care

Hospice care provides both health and social care to help those with life limiting illness to focus on living life to the full until the end of life. Support is also offered to those close to the patient such as the spouse, carers and children. Many hospices also offer care during the bereavement period.

Hospices do not only offer care for the last days of life. They offer a range of support, often alongside active treatment for an illness where a cure is not possible but support, care and advice is available to help people to live well until they die and to avoid suffering, be it emotional or physical. The principles of respect, choice, flexibility and dignity underpin the hospice movement. High staffing ratios allow families the time and space to address what is troubling them. This is rarely possible in a busy hospital ward.

Hospice care can be provided in many settings including a person's home, residential care homes, supported living centres and within a hospice unit. Admission to a hospice is possible for help with a particular problem such as pain, nausea or anxiety. Some hospices offer respite care to give the family a break. Hospices also offer expert care and advice at the end of life. Dying in a hospice is an option for those who do not wish, or are not able to die at home.

Contacts

Review date: October 2012