"Supporting death at home"

I would like to comment on our family experience of Community Nurses both in daytime working hours and out of hours services in Aberdeen city.  My mum passed away at home following an intense period of decline in health over the previous 6 days.  We were quickly set up with Community Nursing teams who sprang into action right away to bring equilibrium to mum after a disturbing night.  What followed was gold standard care where we had access to trained staff night and day who made sure not just my mum was looked after but my dad and those of us supporting them.  In what was a very sad and distressing situation they made it bearable. We knew mum was for palliative care which is of course very hard to think about.  The teams of nurses coming and going at all different times made us able to bear this and resulted in a peaceful death for my mum.  Nothing was too much trouble and they arrived professionally and compassionately time after time giving us reassurances that we could call them out any time.  This is surely a service above all others and worthy of celebrating.

I had always thought dying at home a fearful thing, where pain and torment would hold sway both for the person reaching the end of their life and the family surrounding them.  Our experience has put a completely different slant on this and I would commend anyone to consider this as an option for their loved one.

Mention also for the Marie Curie service which, again, was set in place at short notice for us.  We had a night where we could all sleep, knowing that our mum was being cared for by a trained nurse or health care assistant.  Invaluable when physical and mental energies are being stretched to their maximum.

Well done one and all.