Palliative Care

Each year, an estimated 40 million people are in need of palliative care.   Sadly, we know that one in four people in the UK do not get the care they need at the end of life. As the age distribution of our populations shifts, more people will live longer with and die from complex conditions, often more than one, that require supportive and palliative care.  These specific care workers play an important role in our social care system, and should receive more recognition. 

Palliative care is focused on improving the overall wellness of individuals with serious illnesses. It addresses both the symptoms and the stress of living with a chronic illness. It may also involve support for loved ones or caregivers. Since it’s based on individual needs, palliative care can be quite different from one person to the next. 

End of life care could not be more important right now.  It fosters open discussion about treatment choices for illness and symptom management.  Palliative care centralises patient care across the board with all health care providers and facilitates patient/family understanding of the healthcare system.  Providers of palliative care help to ease the transition from the hospital to care home, as well as provide emotional, spiritual and practical support for the patient’s family.  

At Safe Steps we look to address any gaps in the care home system and make life a little bit easier for the people who provide this care. Our Covid-19 app includes an Advanced Care Planning feature, so that all patient records are in one location and easily shared/communicated with those who need it. By digitising the assessment of frailty and other age related issues, we aim to make elder care more centralised and efficient so that the carers can go back to spending time with their residents, and providing them with the emotional framework they need.

At the end of life, dignity is a concept we tend to associate with basic health management. More powerful however is a dying person’s perception of how they are seen by others. Safe Steps salutes the palliative care community for their efforts in making the end of life a happy and fulfilling time for both patients and family.