In this special blog series to mark Good Death Week, Alison McPherson, Home Manager at Hillside View Care Home in Paisley, discusses what a good death can be like in a care home, and how she and her staff help people to die well...
What does dying well look like?
For many of us a good death would be to go to bed, and not wake up. A death where there is no suffering, no pain, no discomfort.
Unfortunately for many of us, this will not be the case. For many of us, chronic health conditions will result in a decline in our physical capabilities, and ultimately progress to death, over a long period of time.
Within Hillside View we work with two very different groups of people. We have younger people with little or no family contact, and we have older people who have relatives who are very involved in their care.
Very often where there are no relatives, the care team become the family members, and they then take on the role of supporting the person to the end of life. We hold funeral services within the care home, and this can lead residents to begin the process of planning their own funeral. And when they request this, we arrange for it to be recorded within the plan of care.
While discussing their funeral plan, we will have the difficult conversation of how they would like to be cared for at the end of their life. They often advise us that they don’t want to leave the care home, and this is then discussed with the General Practitioner, and the Care Home Liaison Sisters, to ensure that all possible needs are addressed and recorded to ensure that their wishes are being respected.
When a resident who has no family is close to end of life, the staff team ensure that that person is never left alone. There is always a staff member with them offering comfort and reassurance. This staff member will advise the wider care team of any pain or discomfort allowing prescribed medicines to be administered.
Often, the staff member who has the strongest relationship with the resident will be the person who will provide this comfort and reassurance.
When the resident has no family members, their memorial service is performed within the care home, allowing all staff to attend, and allowing staff to grieve for the resident and to remember their life with us.
When working with the family of a resident who is at the end of life, normally I as the care home manager will have the difficult conversation and advise them of the inevitability of the situation. At this time, they are offered the use of the family room, and they are offered the opportunity to stay over to be with their family member.
Throughout this period, staff members speak to the family members offering comfort and reassurance, allowing the family member to talk about their loved one, and reminiscing with them, allowing them to begin the grieving process.
We work with local clergy too, to ensure that the spiritual needs for the residents and the family member are addressed towards the end of life.
Dying well is having your wishes respected, having your medical needs addressed to promote comfort, to be reassured when anxious, to prevent distress, and to be allowed the opportunity to let go of this life when we are ready.
At Hillside View, we would like to think we help people to have a good death.
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