Exploring the delivery of end-of-life care by community nurses

Community nursing services across the UK have faced unprecedented pressures both before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the provision of palliative and EOLC (Mitchell et al, 2021)....

When death is part of us: challenges for community nursing

The literature is full of strategies to support families and close friends during and after death. For example, one modern approach is the Dual Process Model for coping with bereavement developed by...

Attending to the spiritual needs of dying patients

The importance of spiritual care has never been important at the end of life. While this writing is targeted at health care professionals and those in the community in particular, the success of such...

Workforce Plan: A Missed Opportunity for Palliative Care?

The recently published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (NHS England, 2023) coincides with the 75th anniversary of the creation of the NHS, and heralds a seminal plan to increase staffing levels to match...

Facilitating dying at home through the Hospice at Home service

‘You may not need to move away from home to receive care, as end of life and hospice care can be provided at home. To find out what's available locally, ask your GP. Your GP can arrange for community...

Storytelling in palliative and end-of-life care

The recent pandemic has highlighted the importance of letting patients, relatives and healthcare professionals alike, share their stories on the impact COVID-19 has had on death and dying across...

Family carers' administration of injectable medications at the end of life: a service evaluation of a novel intervention

The service evaluation utilised quality improvement methods to understand the implementation and outcomes of the procedure, identify opportunities for strengthening and monitoring patient safety...

Mesothelioma palliative care needs: supporting patients and families with new research-based resources

Mesothelioma clinical guidelines recommend the timely provision of palliative and supportive care (British Thoracic Society Standards of Care Committee, 2007; Scherpereel et al, 2010). Both generalist...

Effectiveness of home-based end-of-life care

This commentary aims to critically appraise the methods used within the review by Shepperd et al (2021) and to expand upon its findings in the context of clinical practice..

Living beyond death and dying: managing the challenges of loss and grief among community nurses

There are several strategies and coping methods available for families and close friends during and after death. For example, one modern approach is the Dual Process Model for coping in bereavement,...

Progress in palliative care: serious illness conversations for community nurses

Facilitating healthy deaths at scale

‘I could never have imagined how difficult the position of caregiver at end-of-life would be and…. the stress on us as a family cannot be overstated’. .