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Compton Hospice warns cuts could reduce end of life care
Senior staff at one of the Midlands leading hospices are in discussions with funding providers to prevent cuts in training for end of life care which could affect patient care.
Clinicians at Wolverhampton’s Compton Hospice, which gets around £180,000 a year in funding to provide end of life training, fear that cuts would reduce the quality of end of life care for patients. They also fear the UK could lose its world leading reputation in this area.
The director of nursing and education at Compton Hospice, Katrina Poulson, says a change in the administration of funding for end of life training could mean less resources being devoted to this area.
The concern comes after a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the UK joint first in the world for the best system for end of life care.
Mrs Poulson said that senior Compton Hospice staff are now in discussions with NHS Trusts to try to ensure money is made available, allowing the hospice to maintain its high standing in this area of training. The discussions include all the primary care trusts and acute hospital trusts in the Black Country. But she said at present there was lack of clarity as to what funding would be available.
“What we mustn’t forget is that there is a patient and a family on the receiving end of this,” she said.
“When it comes to end of life care they only get one crack at it, if it goes wrong it has a devastating effect on the end of life for patients and on their families,” she said.
From April funding for end of life care training was transferred from the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority to local NHS Trusts.
Funds specifically for end of life training had been ring fenced but after the transfer funding was no longer protected and is now part of general training and education budgets for Trusts.
Compton Hospice is one of the leading providers of end of life training for professionals in the West Midlands, as part of a consortium working with two other hospices in the region.
Last year the hospice provided training for more than 70 university students offering courses in 18 different degree course modules and provided more than 750 study days for a range of professionals covering issues in end of life and palliative care.
The hospice regularly holds major conferences in palliative care and hosted the National Dementia Conference last November attended by more than 60 professionals in the field from across the UK.
“Providing end of life training is a core element of what we do, we’ve become one of the leading training providers in this area as part of the regional consortium. Training is essential to maintaining the very highest standards of care,” said Mrs Poulson.
“The concern is that funding for end of life training will not be maintained, the quality of training will become devalued, staff will lose their skills meaning the strategic objectives in end of life care the NHS is seeking to achieve will be at risk and over time the quality of care for patients could deteriorate.”
She added the hospice was hopeful of getting an indication of future funding by the end of July.
If you have any further questions about Compton Hospice and General, please call 0845 225 5497 or contact us. We will do our utmost to help with your enquiry.
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