
Around 54,000 people die each year in Scotland, most following an illness. Four times as many are affected by the loss of a loved one.
How do we best support these people to live well, help manage conditions and give quality and meaning to their life as their health declines?
This is the question I ask myself, as the Improvement Advisor for Palliative Care within Living Well in Communities, and as a daughter who looked after her Mom during the last few months of her life.
I loved my Mom so very dearly, and I started grieving while still caring for her. It was a time I found incredibly difficult.
Mom wanted to stay home but the say of doctors and the power of the system dominated the decision-making around her care. It seemed to me you were either in the system (hospital) or out (on our own).
Her palliative journey was one of pain and crisis. As her main carer, I gradually became exhausted and, whilst we tried to treasure her final months, her last few days were chaotic and full of interventions rather than the peace and respect she so very much deserved.
Many things have changed since then. Continue reading “Introducing Michelle Church”