AIIHPC Update April 2012
Welcome to the April edition of our Monthly Newsletter.
Both our Management Committee Meeting and biannual meeting of our Expert Advisory Board took place this month so it was a month of planning and progress reporting.
We were also pleased to attend a number of events and report launches around the country all demonstrating that much work is taking place within the wider hospice and palliative care community.
Our Management Committee meeting was held offsite for the first time at Milford Care Centre in Limerick. The Committee Meeting followed the launch of “With Comfort and Dignity: An Evaluation of the Hospice at Home Service delivered by Milford Care Centre” in the University of Limerick. Milford’s Hospice at Home service launched in 2006 and is aimed at bringing a specialist palliative care team into the homes of those who need it. With inputs from a multi-disciplinary team, the service is the first of its kind in the country. In 2009, Milford commissioned the University of Limerick to undertake an independent evaluation of the Service and the report details their findings. To access the report visit Milford Care Centre’s website http://milfordcarecentre.ie
The biannual meeting of our Expert Advisory Board took place at the Institute’s offices. The twelve member Expert Advisory Board, which was convened by the Institute of Public Health at the request of the Consortium of Funders, plays a hugely important role. They oversee the work of the Institute and provide strategic advice and guidance on the implementation of our work packages, as well as monitoring the progress of all work undertaken. The meeting was hugely productive and we presented our progress reports around the various work packages to date. We are delighted to welcome Mr Denis Doherty, Board Member Irish Hospice Foundation, as a new member of the Expert Advisory Board and were also pleased the Professor Charles von Gunten, Provost, Centre for Palliative Studies, San Diego Hospice, was able to join us.
Earlier this year we announced an opportunity to apply for one of two available bursaries to attend International Research Summer Academy on Palliative and End of Life Care at the University of Lancaster in June. We are pleased to announce that Ms Loreena Hill, a Cardiac Liaison Nurse with Belfast Health and Social Care Trust who has a special interest in heart failure and Ms Martina O’Reilly, a Quality & Safety Co-Ordinator/Researcher at Milford Care Centre, Limerick, with a background in Occupational Therapy, were the successful recipients. We look forward to updating you on how they found the experience when they return.
Some members of the team attended a special preview screening of a new educational DVD entitled “What is Palliative Care?” which was a joint collaboration between Our Lady’s Hospice and Care Services and the Specialist Palliative Care Team St James’s Hospital. The DVD provides patients and families with accurate information about the speciality of palliative care as well as giving a clear understanding of the various settings of palliative care delivery e.g. the acute care setting, home care setting, hospice setting, as well as services delivered within these settings e.g. full multidisciplinary care, out-patients, day hospice. This DVD will be given to patients and family members who attend the specialist palliative care team in both locations
St Francis Hospice hosted an event to mark the launch of a new report “Improving Quality: Caring for People Living and Dying in Long-Stay Settings” by Ms Una Molloy and Dr Regina McQuillan. The project was undertaken to develop a quality initiative for residents in three North Dublin residential care units to improve end of life care. The project looked at current practice in the three sites in relation to end of life care and worked to develop a programme to improve end of life care there.
Until next month,
Paddie Blaney