Facilitating healthy deaths at scale

In her 2021 article (Fuller, 2021), Clare Fuller said that despite having been a palliative care practitioner for nearly 30 years, she discovered that there was a lot she did not know about good end-of-life care when she became a carer for Jim, a family member. She reminds us that carers need guidance and support to do their jobs well. She wrote:

‘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’.

‘Without my professional knowledge, I am unsure if we would have been able to support Jim to have a comfortable death at home’.

‘Yet… it is impossible to overstate the privilege and value of being able to deliver care’.

‘And…stepping into the role of a relative and caregiver in end-of-life care…led me to question previously held assumptions and identify potential barriers to the provision of end-of-life care that are uncomfortable to consider but important to raise’.