Andy Burnham urged to prioritise end of life care by Wigan healthcare assistant
A Marie Curie Healthcare Assistant who works in Wigan is amongst campaigners calling on mayor Andy Burnham to make end of life care a priority for the people of Greater Manchester.
Linda McCarten, 53, who has worked for the UK’s leading end of life charity for over 15 years, delivered a petition to the newly re-elected mayor. She joined campaigners from Marie Curie for the hand-in, calling on the mayor to use his position to ensure that everyone across the region has access to palliative and end of life care and support.
Currently, across England, around 25% of people who need palliative care do not receive it. For Greater Manchester, the charity says this would equate to over 6,000 people going without the care they need each year.
The charity also says that 7% of deaths each year in the region were preceded by at least three emergency admissions in the last three months of life – a figure it claims could be reduced with better care and support in place.
Marie Curie Healthcare Assistant, Linda McCarten, said: “It breaks my heart when I hear of families struggling to get the care and support they need to allow their loved one to die at home. GPs and district nurses are overstretched, and there is a postcode lottery in access to hospice services.
“Simply put, good palliative and end of life care improves the quality of life for people with a terminal illness. It also reduces pressure on the wider health and care system.
“We’re asking the mayor to commit to using his influence to help fix palliative and end of life care across Greater Manchester, to address the challenges and find solutions so that no one dies in avoidable pain, in poverty and alone.”
Over the current mayoral term, more than 100,000 people will die across the region – and as many as 90% of these people could benefit from palliative care, especially in the most deprived areas.
As a first step, Marie Curie and its supporters are asking the mayor to urgently convene a roundtable on the future of palliative and end of life care across Greater Manchester, bringing together the key players across health, local government and the voluntary sector to discuss the challenges and find solutions.