A Good Death: The inside story of a hospice

[Music] you've got two choices quality or quantity what would you like if you've got quality of life you've got everything you need we're all going to die sometime and I want to take as much while I'm while I'm here I want to enjoy myself as much as I [Music] can St Luke's Hospice in Sheffield has been treated the terminally ill for 45 years no one here will be cured this is far more than a place where people come to die we spent a week at St Luke's talking to staff patients and their families as they confront the end of life and I'm every day starts like this a meeting of nurses doctors and Consultants who treat the majority of St Luke's 1500 patients in their own homes inid respon for a phone the community team leazes with GPS and hospitals prioritizing those most in need you get a visit from the rapid response team Connor is a paliative care nurse it's just a really nice feeling to know that you can support someone in what's obviously it's a terrible time for them I think people uh are frightened of death I think that we all know it's coming to us it's one of the only certain things in life but I don't think it's something that we to think about very much we went with him to visit Jean Knight she's Gravely ill with cancer but determined to remain at home with husband Richard hi Jean Peter I'm good thank you how are you I'm all right darling nice to see you the last few months since Christmas I've gone down you know what I mean but it's just it's come back everywhere pratically riddled in it really it's in my brain it's in my bones it's in my spine it's everywhere you know what I mean so it's just something that you learn to live with you make that sound you say that like people talk about having a headache that's how that's it how do you state that positive you have to because if you don't you you lose your quality of life that's what you're here for you've got two choices quality or quantity what would you like quality you know what I mean if you've got quality of life you've got everything you need as Jean's primary carer the hospice supports Richard too I can ring Cent Loops up and I can talk to a doctor or I can talk to a nurse and they will sort it they can then ring our pharmacy and get them to deliver the medications or allow me to go and pick them up these times when I can have a really bad days and I think oh come on Jean now you know pull yourself together cuz if you don't you're going to go down so I pull myself together and that's how you get it back you know what I mean positivity that's always at the top positivity you have to stay Al that cuz if you don't you lose your life back St Luke's Judith Park showed us around the impatient Ward I think you know people tend to think when patients come into the impatient Center in hospice they're coming in to die they're not about 35% of our patients are discharged home but they all have a terminal illness so this is our spa room there's even a whirlpool bath that comes complete with a light show a small luxury and a way for patients living with illness to relax we are scared as a society I think we are starting to shift slowly I think there's a big Public Health message around death and dying because actually you know again back to the lady who's pregnant she gets a bounty pack that's standard and has been for years in this country we don't give people a death pack telling them these are the things you need to think about and this is what is really important at some point in your life one two Clive Smith a former Royal engineer with cancer was admitted to St Luke's more than once but they didn't just treat him they supported his family too Daughter Julie was so impressed after his first admission last year she applied for a job and joined the housekeeping team and Clive's granddaughter Lauren is in a bereavement support group recommended by the hospice it's like a group where I can I can just do whatever I want you can um express your feelings by doing art and they just help you and if you need to talk to him they can take you in a room talk to you and then what like whatever stays in that room it doesn't come back out when you come here obviously they're here first and foremost for that patient but then once they're in here you realize that they're not they they help Mom Dad Nana Granddad they this there is something there for you excellent saying from the doctor a few days after this Clive died at St Luke's surrounded by his family yeah mention my name most patients first come to St Luke's long before their conditions deteriorate the day Center provides physical and creative therapy advice and sometimes just company for patients dealing with terminal diagnosis you would the first heard the word St Luke's or hospice did what did you think that's me done coming out people I'm going going in I'm coming out in a box but it's not like that all it's a better than a hotel Pamela Walker who has cancer has been coming since she was told she had 18 months to live that was three years ago while I'm here I want to enjoy myself as much as I can I can't s if you sit here and think oh I'm good to to tomorrow and I've got to plan this I don't I don't want that s I've s to my burial L that's all done with now I'm just en I'm just going to enjoy myself one of St Luke's secrets is in the kitchen this is no ordinary hospital food individual leak and smoke had at tarts with that Ser with champ Mash or poach EG Chef Nick wils runs it like a restaurant adapting meals to meet the demands of patients for whom eating may be one of the last Pleasures remaining tell me about the the powders and you mention the reforming sandwiches cuz people struggle struggle so we we make we put like funky powders and like kind of reformed sandwiches and scones and cakes but they're soft but they don't look they look like a cake but they and taste like one but they're soft so they can swallow them appetites come and go and people struggling to eat for various reasons what you try and do when when they can eat yeah definitely it's meem yeah yeah that's what the last thing like we're like the Willy wonkers of like hospital that's what we tried to be a somebody for the very ill like Julie drakeley the small things can make a huge difference thanks d she has motor neurone disease and needs Round the Clock care but comes to St Luke's once a month to use the bath I've got condition that I'm never going to be made better from uh and I've know that for seven years but Loose makes me realize the people do it's also helped her come to terms with how she wants to die the thought of ding at a traditional hospital bed holds my the thought of the D I lose with a beautiful room with beautiful surroundings with people who spy people who know me who are listening to me who have time for me feels totally different this book in the chapel this the names of every St Luke's patient who's died day by day it's a poignant reminder of the reality of the work that is done here and at more than 200 hospices across the UK that between them treat more than 200,000 people that is just 40% of those who would benefit from some kind of expert end of Life Care see how it goes in the next couple of days if if you find that you're getting more side effects though with an aging population demand for Hospice Services is growing fast but funding is not St Luke's is a charity and with just 25% of its budget coming from the NHS it has to raise £6 million every year from shops and public donations on average just 30% of hospice funding comes from the NHS and last year 2third of that was cut or frozen St Luke's chief executive believes more reliable funding could help hospices ease the pressure on the NHS by caring for more people who currently D in hospitals if you took a poll across across um all of my um my peers across the country and their teams there will be a consensus that yes we would like to see better funding for not just hospice care but Pala of care in general we are after a More Level Playing Field for what would be seen as being essential services in our city and without those I think the whole of the healthare sector in Sheffield would be worse off and struggle hospices help patients who no longer have hope of a cure and families facing up to loss by doing lots of little things well take this Garden it's designed so that a patient in a bed can be wheeled around and it's by doing things like that offering an hour in the Sun a favorite meal to someone who perhaps can barely eat or providing staff who can answer the hardest of questions that they restore dignity and Humanity to death Jee Knight's family is just one of those who have benefited a month after after we went to see her we were told she had died the end of life was at home and she want just how she wanted and we all wanted to there cuz I say I I didn't want her to be in hospital these hospices and things like that they are fantastic places but you can't be being at home and having all your family around it couldn't have been any better really you know the NHS is supposed to carry us from cradle to grave but it is often hospices like St Luke's that help complete the journey if more of us are to benefit from their unique expertise and have a chance at a good death hospices may need to rely on more than charity pul Kelo Sky News

Channel: Sky News

Views: 1,917,968

Keywords: hospice, health, end of life, older, elderly, dying, death, family, care, NHS, Healthcare, Pensioners, Sky News, News, Sky

Id: nyPZEtCa88k

Length: 11min 51sec (711 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 02 2017