Where do you want to die? Most Australians say at home, but end life in hospital!

Hi it’s Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME where we provide tailor made solutions for long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomies by improving their Quality of life and where we also provide tailor made solutions to hospitals and Intensive Care Units to save money and resources, whilst providing Quality Care!

In the last blog I shared

How to transition a ventilated adult or child from Intensive Care to a home care environment!

You can check out last week’s blog here!

In this week’s blog I want to share with you another article from the ABC that was published on June 2nd 2017!

Where do you want to die? Most Australians say at home, but end life in hospital!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-02/where-do-you-want-to-die-at-home-or-hospital/8584318

This is another great article that just highlights again the inefficiencies in the Australian health care system, where people don’t get what they want at the end of their life!

A new report from the ABC shows the irony of a failing system at most Patients end of life!

The irony of the system is that people don’t get what they want at the end of their life and it’s actually more expensive for the tax payer to keep funding a system that’s inefficient and doesn’t deliver on a win-win situation!

What’s a win-win situation?

A win-win situation in this context is to provide palliative care at home for people who want to die at home.

This includes critically ill Patients in Intensive Care who are approaching their end of life. Most families in Intensive Care when asked and offered a choice want their loved one to die at home, period!

Intensive Care Units only offer a “one size fits all” end of life situation and it’s failing people at the end of their life!

This gives people what they want, it’s more cost effective and hospitals and Intensive Care Units can use their resources for more acutely unwell people.

That should be self-explanatory and intuitive, but the health system and Intensive Care is far from intuitive.

It’s a stiff system designed to please bureaucrats but not Patients, families or the tax payer.

Home Health Care as of 2017 in Australia remains 30 years behind Home Health Care in most European countries and a change is way overdue!

Enjoy the article here

Where do you want to die? Most Australians say at home, but end life in hospital

The World Today
Posted 2 Jun 2017, 6:36pm

PHOTO: A grey area can emerge in the decision of whether to send a patient home or not. (Unsplash: Cristian Newman)
RELATED STORY: Why do so few people have a plan for the end of their life?
RELATED STORY: A last Scotch with the family: People urged to document end-of-life wishes

While the majority of Australians say they would prefer to die at home, they are instead dying in hospital — and often at great expense, a new report shows.

Key points:

Report found 70pc of Australians prefer to die at home, but less than 10pc do
Issues include what patients want, family wants, doctor’s recommendation, availability of services
Report to look at how much taxpayer, Government saves if people die at home

The Productivity Commission, which was asked to look at a range of human services, has released the first of several reports on how best to manage end-of-life care at home, and the services that should be made available to support those who choose to die that way.

“Many of us have parents that are aging, and if we have the conversation with them about what they would like in the last phase of their life, most would say: ‘I want to be at home, surrounded by family and friends’,” Productivity Commission social policy commissioner Richard Spencer said.

“But that doesn’t happen in Australia, it happens very rarely.

“Over 70 per cent would like that at the end of life, [but] less than 10 per cent experience that possibility.”

There are many issues surrounding the subject of where a person should die — including what the patient wants, what their family wants and what doctors recommend.

Why are most people still dying in hospitals?

If most people would prefer to die at home surrounded by family and friends — why is that not happening?

Mr Spencer said Australians needed to start having conversations about death.

“GPs and other specialists need to be able to have those conversations … about: ‘Where would you like the end of your life?'” he said.

“What would you like, what sort of interventions would you like? What sort of things do you not want to happen?”

Who makes the final decision?

In the last minutes of a person’s life, a grey area can emerge in the decision of whether to send a patient home or not.

Documents to make wishes known:

Advance Health Directive – a legal document that gives instructions about your future healthcare, appoints a power of attorney and comes into effect when you have impaired capacity
Enduring Power of Attorney – a legal document that gives another person the authority to make healthcare and/or financial decision on your behalf when you have impaired capacity
Statement of Choices – lists your wishes, values and beliefs but does not form legal consent
Wills – a legal document that states how you would like your assets distributed when you pass away

The family may prefer the patient stay at the hospital, or the doctor may advise against the move.

This can make it difficult to decide who to listen to and who gets the final say in the matter.

But it is important for everyone to remember “it is the patient’s choice”, Mr Spencer said.

He said the reported planned to recommend putting the patient in the centre.

“Sometimes they’re not in a position to be able to make that decision — there may be issues like dementia,” he said.

“That’s where the advanced care package, or the advanced care directive, can come in and help the family.”

He said medical staff could also help to establish what was in the best interest of the patient.

“And most importantly, what aligns with their preferences that they’ve been able to express at an earlier time,” he said.

Hospital or at home: the cost

When it comes to the cost to taxpayers and Government, is there a difference between a person dying in a hospital bed and a person dying at home?

“When people spend the last days of their lives in hospital, it’s extremely expensive,” Mr Spencer said.

“So there’s a win-win here in a sense — that people’s preferences can be at the forefront of planning around these services.”

Mr Spencer said the second stage of the report will look into how much taxpayers would save by the majority of people having their final wish of location granted.

“There is a very significant number of people who end up in hospital with very expensive procedures and inappropriate interventions,” he said.

“So there are significant savings to be made there.

“Now those savings can obviously help to offset the investment that we need to make to make sure more Australians get the service, and their preferences realised in their choice to be at home surrounded by family and friends at the end of their life.”

What services are available?

Mr Spencer said services available to people who wished to die at home were very advanced.

“We have some wonderful examples in Australia of how that is done,” he said.

“The care support is there, psycho-social support is there if that’s needed, but most particularly — the palliative care.

“Pain management is an issue that’s foremost in people’s minds and we do some of the best services in the world around that.

“But … it’s just a matter of luck sometimes as to whether you live in the right place, at the right area, where those services are available.”

Mr Spencer said further investment was needed in services.

“One of our recommendations is that kind of expertise … should be much more available,” he said.

“If that’s your choice, that you want to be at home, the kind of support, palliative care that you need should be available.”

What do you think? Do you want to die at home or in a hospital or in Intensive Care? What about your family? Where do they want to die? Leave your comments on the blog.

If you want to find out how we can help you to get your loved one out of Intensive Care or Long-term acute care(also nursing home) or if you find that you have insufficient support for your loved one at home on a ventilator or if you have any questions please send me an email to [email protected] or call on one of the numbers below.

USA/Canada +1 415-915-0090

Australia/New Zealand +61 41 094 2230

UK/Ireland +44 118 324 3018

Also, check out our careers section here

www.intensivecareathome.com/careers

We are an NDIS, TAC(Victoria) and DVA(Department of Veteran affairs) approved community service provider in Australia.

We are also part of the Royal Melbourne health accelerator program

https://www.thermh.org.au/news/innovation-funding-announced-melbourne-health-accelerator

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Thank you for tuning into this week’s blog.

This is Patrik Hutzel from INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME and I see you again next week in another update!

YOUR INTENSIVE CARE AT HOME