Pathways through Care at the End of Life

The authors worked together on the National End of Life Care Programme (NEoLCP) team, the NHS programme set up to implement the UK Department of Health's End of Life Care Strategy, which ran between 2008 and 2013. Anita Hayes was Deputy Director, Claire Henry, Director, Margaret Holloway and Tes Smith were Social Care Leads and Katie Lindsay and Eleanor Sherwen worked as Project Managers. Margaret Holloway is also Professor of Social Work at the University of Hull, UK.

• Acknowledgements. 1. The Context and Philosophy of End of Life Care. 2. Discussions as the End of Life Approaches 3. Assessing Need and Planning Care. 4. Co-ordination of Care. 5. Delivery of High Quality Care in Different Settings. 6. Care in the Last Days of Life. 7. Care after Death. 8. Quality End of Life Care for All. References. Index.

This book draws on the rich experience and combined expertise of the authors to offer a resource for all those supporting people on their end of life pathway…[G]lobally we find a remarkable consistency across cultures of what people want when they are dying. They want care which manages distressing symptoms in the most effective way; they want to be treated with compassion, dignity and respect; they want to have the opportunity to set their affairs in order and to be surrounded by those people who are important to them. The implication of meeting those needs, as the core message of this book proclaims, is that end of life care is everybody's business.