Marie Curie end of life care to stop in Dorset
The charity's not having its contract renewed by local NHS bosses
End of life care for cancer patients in Dorset, provided by charity Marie Curie, is to end on March 31st.
Local NHS bosses have given notice that their contract to offer hospice at home services won't be renewed.
Marie Curie say they're in discussions about alternative support that can be offered to dying patients in the county.
Karen Burfitt, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships and Services at Marie Curie South West, said:
“We are saddened by this news but remain committed to continuing our discussions with the ICB and other local partners to explore how we can work together to transform how we deliver more specialist care to more people in Dorset.
“While we understand there are serious financial constraints on the NHS and Dorset in particular, the UK government and ICBs who are responsible for commissioning local services need to have serious conversations around sustainability and investment in high quality care for people at the end of life.
“24/7 palliative and end of life care services tailored to the needs of the local community are urgently needed to significantly reduce NHS pressures and save dying people from avoidable and traumatic emergency admissions.
"As a charity with a long history of supporting people at the end of life in Dorset, we are concerned that decommissioning our specialist service in favour of increased use of personal care agencies will compromise quality of care.
“The ICB suggested we join its care Framework, but this wasn’t feasible for us as an organisation. This ‘framework’ is a way of commissioning care and is designed for agencies that provide personal care to a broad range of people, which differs from the specialist end of life care we provide.
“We are aware that the ICB is looking at different ways to deliver end of life care, but this will take time and additional UK government investment to make it happen. We believe that nationally money should be invested into driving change and creating new services that better meet the needs of local communities, regardless of a person's terminal diagnoses, where they live in the county, their individual circumstances, or place of care.
“We are concerned that any lengthy delays in implementing change are likely to result in further negative outcomes for patients and the NHS, such as avoidable emergency admissions or unmanaged pain. It could also make the task of addressing the anticipated exponential increase in demand over coming years a lot harder to achieve.
“In the meantime, we are exploring ways of working with local GP practices to help them identify and support people much earlier in their end of life journey and are also set to launch a Community Companion model thanks to funding from SGN, the leading gas distribution network in Southern England, to support people dealing with fuel poverty at end of life.
“We are open to discussing ways to maintain our partnership with the ICB and explore how to improve end of life care services across all settings, ensuring people receive the care they deserve, as we are doing in other areas of the South West and beyond.
"On behalf of our staff and patients, we thank local MPs for raising our concerns with parliamentarians and the local ICB, as well as our fundraising groups for their continued support during this challenging time."
Marie Curie say they're now in consultation with the staff impacted, focussing on supporting them and the people they care for.
The charity’s national Information and Support service, including its support line and online resources, are also available to people in the Dorset area who want to discuss issues around terminal illness, dying, death and bereavement.