Nurse survey highlights a perfect storm for community end of life care
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Nurse survey highlights a perfect storm for community end of life care

Julie Sylvester @RCNi_Julie Editor, Primary Health Care

The recent Nursing Standard/Marie Curie survey reveals a stark picture about end of life care during the COVID-19 pandemic (rcni.com/dying-at-home). No community nurse will be surprised by the results.

Primary Health Care. 31, 6, 5-5. doi: 10.7748/phc.31.6.5.s1

Published: 29 November 2021

The survey might give nurses the evidence they need to argue for better training or more staff. The results will also restore their faith in the feeling of achieving great care during these unprecedented times.

It also highlights a perfect storm of too few staff available while more care is being provided at home. One in three of the 548 nurses across the UK who responded said staff shortages are the main barrier to providing end of life care. Some describe community nursing services as being overwhelmed, with increasing pressure placed on families to provide care. Just over half (52%) said the quality of end of life care had deteriorated.

While nurses support people dying in the place they choose, respondents expressed deep concerns that there were insufficient numbers of community staff to support a good death, which led to some people dying with inadequate care and pain relief.

For some, the more pared back approach helped foster better and more intimate continuity of care. One respondent said: ‘I was able to support people and their families without the interference of other agencies. It has been a pleasure to really nurse again.’

Most respondents (85%) said they felt confident to initiate conversations about end of life care with patients and their families.

As one nurse said: ‘I have always had a passion for end of life care, and the pandemic just made me feel more confident.’

‘I was able to support people and their families without the interference of other agencies. It has been a pleasure to really nurse again’

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