“You matter because you are you; you matter to the last moment of your life and we will do all we can, not only to let you die peacefully, but to help you live until you die.” Dame Cicely Saunders
End of Life Care
We want to offer people who are nearing the end of their life the highest quality of care and support. We wish to help you live as well as you can, for as long as you can. Therefore, if and when you want us to, we will:
- Listen to your wishes about the remainder of your life, including your final days and hours, answer as best we can any questions that you have and provide you with the information that you feel you need;
- Help you think ahead so as to identify the choices that you may face, assist you to record your decisions and do our best to ensure that your wishes are fulfilled, wherever possible, by all those who offer you care and support;
- Talk with you and the people who are important to you about your future needs. We will do this as often as you feel the need, so that you can all understand and prepare for everything that is likely to happen;
- Endeavour to ensure clear written communication of your needs and wishes to those who offer you care and support both within and outside of our surgery hours;
- Do our utmost to ensure that your remaining days and nights are as comfortable as possible, and that you receive all the particular specialist care and emotional and spiritual support that you need;
- Do all we can to help you preserve your independence, dignity and sense of personal control throughout the course of your illness;
- Support the people who are important to you, both as you approach the end of your life and during their bereavement.
We also invite your ideas and suggestions as to how we can improve the care and support that we deliver to you, the people who are important to you and others in similar situations.
Advance Care Plan (Planning my Future Care)
As individuals we may wish to put-in-place a record of what is important to us so that if we experience ill-health or an unforeseen event, like an accident, and become unable to make decisions we can be reassured by knowing we have already made clear our preferences.
This will help your family, carers, friends and professionals to discuss your future care with you.
None of us can identify exactly how our life will progress and how our end of life will look. Designing this plan gives you the opportunity to start these conversations, make your decisions or at least make your preferences known and clearly noted.
We have designed a draft plan that we hope you will find useful. Please feel free to amend it to suit your requirements. You may like to add photos to your plan.
This plan is not a legal document, but should you chose to use it please keep it safe so people can refer to it should the need arise.
You may find it useful (if you haven’t already done so) to have a file of important papers. While you may know exactly where to put your hands on them, your family may have the distress of searching through drawers when they need to find important papers quickly.
There are several documents that people, even in excellent health may wish to consider, to ensure they are discussed, actions taken and then left until such a time as they are needed. We hope this plan will act as a top sheet for your important information file.
We have included details suggested by carers who have had the experience of a death in the family and struggled to locate important information.
If you are worried about your memory you might find it useful to complete “this is me” a leaflet that gives greater detail about your likes and dislikes, in case you need to go to somewhere unfamiliar such as hospital.
If you need help with any of these documents then speak to your health or social care advisor or contact the Citizens Advice Bureau or Age UK who may be able to help.
Please keep this document in a safe place with other relevant documents. Remember to review it on a regular basis.
Tell the people you trust where they can find it.
Click here to view the ‘This Is Me’ / ‘Advance Care Plan’ document