Gloucestershire Resident Decries Lack of Community Palliative Care Services
Gloucestershire Resident Shares Heartbreaking Experience of Losing Father Due to Lack of Community Palliative Care
Cara Moore, a Gloucestershire resident, has spoken out about the difficulties her family faced in trying to honour her father Dr. Michael Moore’s wish to die at home. Despite the compassionate efforts of the healthcare professionals involved, the community palliative care services in the area were unable to provide the level of support required, leading to Dr. Moore spending his final days in a hospital setting rather than his familiar home surroundings.
Details
Dr. Moore, who lived in Innsworth, was receiving care from both community services and the oncology department in Cheltenham. Like many families across Gloucestershire, Cara and her family assumed that when the time came, Dr. Moore would be supported to die at home, surrounded by his loved ones and with dignity and compassion.
However, Cara’s experience highlighted the challenges of accessing timely and coordinated community palliative care. While the individual healthcare professionals were committed and compassionate, they were working within a system that is under immense pressure and often unable to deliver the necessary level of support outside of a hospital setting.
Cara emphasised that community palliative care services, district nursing, specialist teams, and hospice care are the backbone of good end-of-life care, making it possible for people to remain at home, manage their symptoms, and feel safe in their final days. She noted that organisations such as Sue Ryder, Marie Curie, and Hospice UK have repeatedly highlighted the gap between what people want and what the system can provide, especially as the population ages and the complexity of care needs increases.
What You Need to Know
Cara has started a petition calling for the implementation of 24/7 community end-of-life care teams in Gloucestershire, to ensure that more families can have their loved ones’ final wishes honoured. The petition can be signed on the Gloucestershire Live website.