Palliative Care
Starcare Ltd aims to maximise choice for service users at the end of their lives, allowing them to die at home, if that is their wish, in maximum comfort and with maximum dignity. We also offer support to carers / family members. Service provision is available 24 hours a day every day of the year, to meet individual needs and wishes of our service users and their carers / families we offer a high level of flexibility, which can vary from day to day. There are various service provisions available including, daytime service/s, overnight constant night or sitting service and support service. Our dedicated team of support workers from are specially trained in palliative care and support for terminally ill service users, such as catheter and stoma care, skin care / management, medication prompting, mouth care, peg feeding. With continuity of service / support worker, they are able to get to know the service user, to provide continuity of care.
Supportive care helps the patient and their family to cope with their condition and treatment
Everyone facing life-threatening illness will need some degree of supportive care in addition to treatment for their condition.
Palliative Care Defined Palliative Care is part of supportive care. It embraces many elements of supportive care. Palliative care is the active holistic care of patients with advanced progressive illness. Management of pain and other symptoms and provision of psychological, social and spiritual support is paramount. The goal of palliative care is achievement of the best quality of life for patients and their families. Many aspects of palliative care are also applicable earlier in the course of the illness in conjunction with other treatments. Working with Care Proffessionals Palliative care aims to:
- provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms
- integrate the psychological and spiritual aspects of service user care
- offer a support system to help service users live as actively as possible until death
- offer a support system to help the family cope during the patient’s illness and in their own bereavement.
Who Provides Palliative Care?
Palliative care is provided by two distinct categories of health and social care professionals:
- those providing the day-to-day care to patients and carers in their homes and in hospitals
- those who specialise in palliative care (consultants in palliative medicine and clinical nurse specialists in palliative care, for example)
- those providing day-to-day care should be able to:
- assess the care needs of each patient and their families across the domains of physical, psychological, social spiritual and information needs
- meet those needs within the limits of their knowledge, skills, competence in palliative care
- know when to seek advice from or refer to specialist palliative care services
Specialist Palliative Care Services These services are provided by specialist multidisciplinary palliative care teams and include:
- assessment, advice and care for patients and families in all care settings, including hospitals and care homes.
- specialist in-patient facilities (in hospices or hospitals) for patients who benefit from the continuous support and care of specialist palliative care teams
- intensive co-ordinated home support for patients with complex needs who wish to stay at home.
This may involve the specialist palliative care service providing specialist advice alongside the patient’s own doctor and district nurse to enable someone to stay in their own home.
- many teams also now provide extended specialist palliative nursing, medical, social and emotional support and care in the patient’s home, often known as ‘hospice at home’.
- day care facilities that offer a range of opportunities for assessment and review of patients’ needs and enable the provision of physical, psychological and social interventions within a context of social interaction, support and friendship. Many also offer creative and complementary therapies.
- advice and support to all the people involved in a patient’s care.
- bereavement support services which provide support for the people involved in a patient’s care following the patient’s death.
- education and training in palliative care.
The specialist teams should include palliative medicine consultants and palliative care nurse specialists together with a range of expertise provided by physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, pharmacists, social workers and those able to give spiritual and psychological support.