Palliative Care and Spiritual Care
Over the years FiOP has considered issues around end of
life. We have held civic café events;
seminars and had a brilliant lecture from Baroness Neuberger. Working with Good Life; Good Death; Good
Grief we have tried to encourage people to have conversations about death and
dying from a practical point of view but also a spiritual one. It is important to find ways of having such
conversations in whatever way emerges to suit family and friends.
Elizabeth Mackinlay writes about our reluctance to discuss death
and dying in her book Palliative Care,
Ageing and Spirituality, because we don’t know how to speak about death; because we deny it
and because dying has gradually moved from the intimacy of
home to institutions like hospital. We
need to understand our own reluctance.
However, there is a strong connection between palliative
care and spirituality which is why FiOP is holding a joint conference with the
Scottish Partnership on Palliative Care.
Whilst our aim is to consider the impact of recent policy initiatives in
both areas, we want to highlight the importance of having a focus on the
spiritual needs of the individual at the end of life as being intrinsic to good
palliative care.
The Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative
and End of Life Care stresses the principle that ‘each individual person’s
physical, psychological, social and spiritual
needs are recognised and addressed as far as it is possible’.
World Health Organisation (2010) highlights that
palliative care aims to improve the quality of life for people who have a
life-threatening illness and is defined as:
'an approach that improves the quality of life of
patients and their families facing the problems associated with
life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by
means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain
and others problems, physical psychosocial and spiritual’.
In this context we are talking about meaning and purpose in
life and relationship. For some this is
around religion but for others it embraces different dimensions but which
enable people to make sense of their lives which is particularly relevant to
those who are facing death.
The importance of ‘presence’ is discussed by many authors
but Steve Nolan eloquently illustrates this issue in relation to spiritual care
through:
- recognising and owning one’s personal anxiety about death – mindfulness of being
- attending to the other person – listening attentively
- staying with the other – willing to go along the journey as far as being invited to share
- being open to change within oneself
Our conference will consider how our policies and practice enable an
improved quality of life and the books referred to help us to better understand
these issues.
To book your place at our conference on 7 June 2016 click HERE
