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Engagement on the transformation of end of life care services across the Whipps Cross catchment area

It is important to get care and support right for people with a life-limiting condition, who are at the end of life or are bereaved. Health and care services in Redbridge, Waltham Forest and parts of West Essex are looking at how to make sure that people get the care they need and want in the place they want it.

Support for people at end of life often includes medical care – at home, in their care home, in hospital or at a hospice – but it is also important to make things a little easier during the most challenging of times –such as:

  • support with finances
  • legal processes and wills
  • childcare
  • understanding of culture and faith
  • accessing food
  • being comfortable

The people delivering end of life care for people in the boroughs include all parts of the NHS – community services, GPs and Whipps Cross hospital – alongside the councils and charities including local hospices and Marie Curie. They are working together to ask local people about their needs and wants during end of life, to help them build a better support service at this challenging time. 

Last year NHS North East London and partners spoke to local people to find out what is important to local people about the compassionate care services they receive. We heard about the things that work well currently, and the things which are not working so well and need to improve. Feedback from this initial listening exercise was used to help clinical staff develop a set of draft service proposals outlining what end of life care services could look like across the boroughs, these service proposals can be found here.

No decisions have yet been made on the future of end of life care provision in Waltham Forest, Redbridge or West Essex.

There is currently a secondary phase of engagement underway to hear a broader range of voices in order to ensure services work in the right way for local people, this engagement will enable previous proposals to be developed and refined ahead of a further consultation process.

Please see below opportunities to currently be involved in the secondary phase of the engagement.

We would like to invite local people from Waltham Forest, Redbridge and West Essex to be a part of a community working group to meet regularly with other local people and doctors and nurses to test these service proposals, tell us what is missing and ensure plans for services reflect what local people need.

Members of the working group will be required to draw on experience, ideally from within the last 5 years, of supporting somebody with a life-limiting condition, or in the end stages of a  life-limiting condition themselves.

Sessions run on alternating weeks to look in detail into a different area of the provision of end of life care – bringing insight from your experience to the table to work alongside clinicians to shape the design of services.

There will be no obligation to attend all sessions, and each session can be attended either in person at Whipps Cross Hospital or online via teams.  As a member of the community working group you will be expected to contribute towards each session’s discussion topic, and members will be rewarded with a £25 Love2Shop voucher for each session they participate in.

Due to the need to ensure members of the community working group are reflective of different age groups and diverse communities of the boroughs, we invite you to complete a short expression of interest form which can be found here. 

Do you have experience of providing care for somebody with a life-limiting condition either formally or informally?

If so, we would like to invite you to share your experiences of this to help shape and improve services across Waltham Forest, Redbridge and West Essex.

The survey will ask you about the support you receive, or received, as a carer, and also about the care the person your care for, or cared for, receive(d).

All survey responses will be anonymous.

Please click here to be taken to the survey.

When somebody important in your life dies, it can have an impact on your feelings – sometimes a powerful and long-lasting impact. It can also affect your wider life, for example, at work or school, your family life, financial security or where you live.

We want to hear from people in Waltham Forest, Redbridge and West Essex who have lost someone close to them about their experiences, feelings and needs around bereavement and grief, to help us put the right support in place.

If you have been bereaved or know that you are about to be, you can take part in our confidential survey here.