Agenda item

4.1

The Board received a report regarding an intelligence-led End of Life Strategy for Sheffield.

4.2

In attendance for this item were Dr. Eleanor Rutter, Dr. Sam Kyeremateng, Dr. Anthony Gore, Louise Brewins and Chris Gibbons.

4.3

Eleanor Rutter explained that the paper discussed end of life, not end of life care.  It was important to understand the needs of people approaching end of life and how best to meet them. How, as a city, could we support people, and their families, at the end of life.

4.4

There was a need to look at the role of the city and possibly create a Compassionate City Charter.  It was acknowledged that modern healthcare had greatly advanced life expectancy, but had also medicalised the end of life, but not always with optimal quality of life.  The wider impact of bereavement also needed to be recognised.

4.5

Anthony Gore stated that end of life care was good in Sheffield and a lot of data was collected by different bodies, but had not yet been looked at as a whole.  There were 6 national ambitions for end of life which formed a framework for local action which formed part of the Health and Wellbeing Board’s strategy.

4.6

Sam Kyeremateng said that the 6 ambitions were cross cutting and familiar in terms of ageing well.  However, there was a need to think about different kinds of deaths e.g. perinatal, those with learning difficulties, etc.  There was a need to understand how death can feel chaotic for some families.

4.7

Members of the Health and Wellbeing Board asked questions and the following answers and comments were provided:-

·         Sudden, shocking, planned and early death would be covered by the Strategy.  It was not just about those who were expected to die.

·         The leadership around end of life was mainly medical professionals.  This wasn’t inappropriate but a wider constituency of voices was needed to ensure a broad approach.

·         There was no consensus regarding what a good death entailed.  Sheffield was a multi-cultural city and expectations were different in different communities.  There was a need to be culturally sensitive.  A good death was different for everyone.  This work would be undertaken.

·         It was already established that minority groups accessed a range of end of life services less easily and there was a need to give all groups access to a platform to discuss end of life.

·         Much of the data available was health service based in its orientation.  All the data needed to be brought together to see where the gaps in knowledge lay.  Resources may need to be made available to achieve this.

·         The data from different sources needed to be brought together along with wider socio-economic data in order to look for patterns.

·         A clear statement of strategy was required and it was felt that the Health and Wellbeing Board was mainly medically based, but that the City Council was much broader.  Representatives from the VCF sector also needed to be included in the discussions.

·         There was a need to make end of life an acceptable conversation.

·         Work needed to be done to see how end of life fit with the Sheffield City Partnership Board.  End of life needed to be brought together across the full breadth of programmes.

4.8

RESOLVED: That, in considering the questions set out in the report in relation to End of Life, the Board’s answers be as follows:

(1)   Does the Health and Wellbeing Board accept that a comprehensive end of life approach, including community and civic elements is most likely to deliver best outcomes for Sheffield? Yes. If so, would the Board sponsor a workshop to consider whether Sheffield should become a ‘Compassionate City’ and how best to progress that? Yes.

(2)   How will the Board help to engage and enable leaders from within communities and neighbourhoods? The Board had no objections to engaging with communities and neighbourhoods, but would need a clearer steer.

(3)   Can Board members give their individual organisational commitment to an integrated intelligence function to deliver this work? A commitment from the Board Members was given that member agencies would support this.

(4)   Does the Board support further development of a strategy based on the six national ambitions with the addition of a dynamic intelligence core? The Board would encourage the return of a Strategy and would like to see how many of the national ambitions could be addressed.