Dorset nurse urges families to talk about death before it's too late
A survey's found many of us don't recognise terms well all need to know one day.
If you don't recognise phrases like Advance Directive, Palliative Care and Hospice Care, you're not alone.
They're all terms associated with end of life care, but only very few of us have heard all of them before.
New research reveals a third of people in the UK are unfamiliar with normal terms used by healthcare professionals and others in care for dying people. This inevitably leaves people without vital support as they’re unaware of what to ask for.
Among the words people didn’t recognise were palliative care (31%) hospice care (32%) and end of life care (33%).
The lowest recognition was for the term used to describe written documentation expressing your health care wishes if you’re not able to communicate them yourself; Advance Directive (87%).
That's why a Dorset nurse is urging us all to have conversations about our wishes before we don't have a choice.
Nicola Elam has worked at Marie Curie for six years. She said:
"It would be good if we were all having conversations before coming to the end of life because we never know when it's going to happen and it's far better that people know what's going on, so that they're much more prepared.
"If people don't have these conversations, their grief is much stronger because they don't know what someones wishes would have been and that makes it much harder to move on in their journey of grief.
"I think it's very daunting. There is a stigma around death and that causes unnecessary suffering and by encouraging more people to talk about their feelings and wishes, hopefully that stigma will lessen in time."
Marie Curie wants to help break the persistent stigma around death, end unnecessary suffering and encourage more people to talk about their feelings and wishes. They hope their latest advert ‘Life’s Questions’ will boost awareness of their free support line and web resources designed to offer practical and emotional support.
The services provided can help lighten the emotional and practical burden faced by thousands of people every day and offer support and signposting around life’s harder questions and difficult topics.
The UK’s leading end of life charity is also calling for The Health and Care Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, to include a legal right for everyone in England to be offered a conversation about their personal needs, preferences and wishes for care at the end of life.
Nicola added:
"If you think about people who've had car accidents and things like that, they may not have had these conversations, where as if you do know what somebody wants before, it makes it smoother for people.
"There is support out there to help people start these conversations and not make it such a big stigma."
You can find out more at www.mariecurie.org.