If Covid-19 has shown us anything, it’s the value of human connection. At the end of our lives, these connections are more important than ever.
This new research explores the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on hospice care in the West Midlands from the perspective of patients, carers, hospice staff and senior managers. It is the first study in the UK to provide an in-depth exploration of the experiences of all four groups in hospice services during the pandemic.
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By exploring the impact and implications of the pandemic on experiences of hospice care in the West Midlands, the study offers important lessons to inform current government plans for people with life-limiting illnesses to ‘live with Covid’, and future plans for hospice care as part of the wider health and care system.
The study findings arrive at a critical moment of opportunity for hospices. The new Health & Care Act has introduced a legal responsibility to commission palliative care in every part of England for the first time in the history of the NHS. Social attitudes to dying, death and bereavement are also changing, with compassionate communities emerging across the country.
‘The impact and implications of Covid-19 on the relational, social, and healthcare experiences of Hospice care in the West Midlands’ (ICoH) study was funded by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of the UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response to COVID-19 (grant ref: ES/W001837/1).
All research products can be accessed through the ICoH website . This report was also supported financially by University of Warwick Policy Support Fund and in-kind by Marie Curie.
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Better End of Life Report 2021
We take a closer look at how Covid-19 has affected dying, death and bereavement and what we can learn for improving end of life care in the UK.