Thousands of patients are dying without privacy or dignity in hospitals every year because many hospitals have inadequate facilities and procedures in place, an Irish Hospice Foundation conference heard yesterday.
Although more than one in two people will die in hospital, many facilities have no private space for patients and families on public wards, no dedicated room for dying patients and few facilities for families to talk in private.
In one case, a patient was dying in a public ward while a football match was blaring on the television. In other cases, dead patients have been removed from their beds before the family have had a chance to say goodbye. Bereaved relatives have told how they received their dead patients' belongings in rubbish bags.
The Irish Hospice Foundation called for radical and urgent changes to hospital practices and facilities.
Foundation chief executive Eugene Murray said 15,000 people died in hospital every year but more than 80 per cent of them did not want to die in this environment. "Every hospital needs to give priority to the needs of the dying, and their families, as well as staff and health managers. This must be done urgently." Mr Murray said patients' comforts needed to be routinely checked and pain must be addressed quickly.
"We are concerned that pain may not be routinely assessed. We believe all patients have a right to the expertise developed in palliative care," he said. The hospice philosophy of total care must be brought into all acute hospitals, he added.
Mr Murray said two thirds of the funds spent on the health of an individual were spent during the last year of life so it was essential that this high level of investment resulted in a positive experience for patients, he said. He also pointed out that the prevalence of the MRSA "superbug" meant that private rooms which would once have been available to give privacy to patients and their doctors or relatives were now being used by MRSA patients.
Pat Cox, former president of the European Parliament, called for a "fresh type of thinking" in Irish hospitals to adequately care for those who die in hospital.
"We've got to get over the idea that an elderly person who needs the space and time to pass away with dignity should find themselves regarded in a negative way as bed blockers in a hospital system that badly needs the bed for something else."
The conference also heard how a two-year "Care for People Dying in Hospitals" project at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda was already showing results.
Innovations include guidelines for hospital staff on breaking bad news; a specially designed handover bag to return personal belongings and effects; a leaflet on local bereavement support services and a booklet explaining postmortems.
