Excellence in End of Life Care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Excellence in end of life – making better memories
IRAS ID
325698
Contact name
Loua Khalil
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Berkshire Hospitals Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
In West Berkshire over 50% of people who die in any year, die in hospital. In 2020/2021 this equated to 1500 people. There is evidence that end of life experiences impact on those left behind and poor experiences can lead to complex grief reactions in the bereaved (Mason et al, 2020). Our project’s aim is to ensure that we provide a consistently high standard of care not only to the patients who die in the Trust but also to their families and carers. This project is engaging, innovative, patients-centric, and highly participative.
Using a participatory action research design, we will engage key stakeholders from within a wide range of departments that impact on end of life experience. We will interview staff, patients and their families as to what excellent end-of-life care is. Together we will then co-create solutions for consistently excellent end of life care. The change initiatives that this project will recommend and implement is not pre-assumed but co-created through the research structure. It is however anticipated that this may result in designing communication tools that differentiate needs of dying patients, training and capacity building programmes and support packages for the family.
Interviews with patients, families and staff will be conducted in person within the hospital premises, or virtually via University of Reading or Royal Berkshire Hospital secure videocall system. The project should be completed by 30 September 2024.
REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
23/WA/0140
Date of REC Opinion
11 May 2023
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion