A Look at End of Life Care on the NHS
End of life health care, otherwise known as palliative care is any kind of medical treatment or support that centres on reducing the harshness of pain and discomfort, instead of striving to heal the person outright. The aim is to stop and/or assuage the discomfort and pain and to improve quality of life for individuals inflicted with chronic, complex illness.
Yet, not all end of life care hospices are the same, and there’s been a lot of accusations (and evidenced cases) of carelessness (and sometimes mistreatment) taking place in institutions that lead to patients putting up with extreme pain and discomfort over long-lasting periods of time. For example an allegation is made against Sheffield Teaching Hospitals who are charged with negligence with a particular individual they were looking after, with details of correspondences with the sufferer’s daughter and the hospital.
And so one mustn’t take such care for granted - friends and family of a patient should be watchful and assure their family member or friend has proper treatment.
Should your friend or family member be receiving health care via the National Health Service, there is also an NHS complaints procedure you can use should you wish to make a criticism.
