Being faced with the prospect of requiring palliative care can be daunting. You and your family will likely have many questions as you navigate this challenging time.
In this blog, we’ll examine how palliative home care can empower individuals to live as well as possible, with dignity maintained at all times.
What is palliative care?
Here, we will define palliative care and compare it to hospice care. There are a number of similarities between the two types of care, but there are also some key differences to be aware of.
Definition of palliative care
Palliative care is specialised support for people with a terminal illness or an advanced, life-limiting condition. It ensures comfort, dignity and quality of life, focusing on helping you to live as well as possible and supporting your family through the process.
In addition to helping you manage pain and any other distressing symptoms you may be facing, palliative care offers a holistic approach to care because it looks at a person as a whole being, rather than just focusing on the illness affecting them. As such, it encompasses emotional, social and even spiritual support for you and your family.
Palliative care becomes available when you are first diagnosed with a life-limiting illness and focuses on ensuring the highest quality of life while managing the treatment of your condition and other needs. This is a point of differentiation between palliative care and hospice care, as you may be able to receive palliative care while still undergoing life-prolonging measures.
At Hamill Homecare, our palliative care is tailored to meet individual needs. We work closely with your family and healthcare professionals to deliver care that aligns with your wishes and supports your family.
Key differences between palliative & hospice care
Hospice care, like palliative care, is focused on the needs of the individual and their quality of life. It is compassionate care for people in the last phases of incurable disease or simply old age, so that they can live as fully and comfortably as possible in their remaining days and weeks.
Unlike palliative care, hospice care specifically focuses on when a cure is no longer possible, or when the burdens of treatment outweigh the benefits. It focuses on the relief of a terminally ill individual’s distress and symptoms and attends to their, and their family’s, emotional and spiritual needs during the final moments of life.
Benefits of palliative care at home
There are a number of benefits to receiving palliative care in your home. Below, we will outline what these benefits are.
Personal & emotional benefits
By receiving palliative care at home, you are in a place you feel comfortable – your home. As such, you are surrounded by all of your personal items and, of course, loved ones.
This can help ensure a feeling of calm, improving your emotional wellbeing, as opposed to being somewhere you don’t know, like a hospital or hospice.
Remaining at home can often be easier on your family too, for all the same reasons – a familiar and reassuring environment with home comforts at hand, ensuring time spent together is meaningful.
There is also no limit on visits for family members, unlike in hospitals, where frequency of visits and number of visitors are capped.
Clinical & practical benefits
As we mentioned in an earlier section, palliative care is personalised and tailored to your needs. This means it is designed to fit into existing routines, ensuring minimal disruption to everyday life.
Also, being cared for at home reduces the number of visits to the hospital, which can sometimes be a stressful experience.
Enhanced dignity
Receiving palliative care in your own home provides a real sense of dignity and autonomy, as you still have control over your day-to-day life while remaining in an environment you’re familiar with.
Precious time
Friends and family members often find that palliative care gives them more quality time with their loved one, allowing them to make happy memories within the comfort of their loved one’s home.
Additionally, with a home palliative care team visiting regularly, they can often provide respite care, training and guidance for family carers, ensuring they feel more supported and equipped to care for their loved one too.
What to expect from Hamill Homecare’s palliative care process
Now that we know what palliative care is, and we understand the benefits of it, we will walk you through the steps of our own process, so you can have a better idea of what to expect.
Initial consultation & assessment
At Hamill Homecare, every journey begins with a thorough consultation. This is an essential part of the process where our care coordinator will take time to meet with you and your family members in your own home.
They will use this opportunity to understand your care needs, routines, preferences and expectations. This allows us to build a clear picture of the level of support required and appreciate you as an individual.
Personalised care plan
After your needs have been assessed, we work closely with you, your family and healthcare professionals to create a palliative care plan that is tailored to your needs and wishes. This bespoke care plan outlines exactly what care will be provided, when and by whom.
As care needs and levels of support can change, your care plan is flexible and reviewed regularly to ensure it is continuing to meet your needs (more on that below).
Consistent team
Following your personalised care plan being created, we will match you with a small team of carers who will care for you in your home. You will get to know each other well, and your carers will know your preferences, ensuring you are always as comfortable as possible.
At Hamill Homecare, our palliative care visits are a minimum of 45 minutes, ensuring thoughtful, unhurried care that focuses on each person’s overall wellbeing.
Regular reviews
As touched on above, at Hamill Homecare, we understand that care needs are likely to change as your condition changes.
To ensure you are always in receipt of the highest quality care, we will conduct regular reviews to ensure your care continues to meet your needs. If anything needs to change, we will update your care plan accordingly and act on it immediately.
When to consider palliative care at home
There is no hard and fast rule for when palliative care at home should be considered, but it tends to become a topic of conversation when you are first diagnosed with a life-limiting illness.
When your quality of life, comfort or dignity becomes compromised due to your condition, it could be time to consider palliative care.
How Hamill Homecare can help
If you would like to learn more about our palliative care offering, the funding options available, or if you have any specific questions about what we do, please contact our team today.