Survey of Bereaved Relatives:Voices MaJam

End-of-life care is an experience that touches the lives of everyone on a personal or professional level. Of all people that will die in Ireland this year, 43% will die in adult acute hospital settings. Acute hospitals are busy places with a predominant focus on diagnosis, treatment and cure. However, caring for people who are seriously ill is also an important responsibility. The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St. James’s Hospital are striving to ensure that people who are diagnosed with a life-limiting illness or who die in our care, experience a place of sanctuary where they are cared for in comfort and dignity and their families are supported in their bereavement. The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and St. James’s Hospital have targeted end- of-life care as an area for improving the quality of care for patients and their families. To enable this, both hospitals have actively sought to improve end-of-life care through their active participation in the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme, an initiative of the Irish Hospice Foundation. Measuring the quality of care provided is recognised as being fundamental to quality assurance and provides information to further enhance patient and family care. This study sought to ascertain the quality of care provided to patients and their families during their last admission to hospital from the perspective of bereaved relatives.