A LIMERICK hospital has been awarded a Hospice Friendly Hospitals (HFH) Quality Improvement Award to further develop its end-of-life and bereavement care services.
St John’s Hospital was recipient of the HFH award which is an initiative of the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) in partnership with the Health Service Executive. It was established in 2007 and aims to ensure that hospitals take a strategic and focused approach to the improvement of end-of-life care.
45 public and private hospitals are now linked with HFH including some of the top General, Maternity and Children’s hospitals in the country.
The funding has allowed Limerick hospital project team to develop, implement and evaluate a bereavement information leaflet for relatives to help them during the difficult period immediately after the death of a relative or family member.
Project leader Kathleen Lynch, who is Quality Coordinator at St John’s, said they were delighted to be the recipient of the HFH award which helped them develop the information leaflet for bereaved families which contains advice on managing practical issues following a family death.
HFH Outreach Officer Joanne Brennan said it was fantastic that so much great work continues to be carried out in hospitals to help those near end of life and their families.
“Staff across the country put so much time into the HFH programme and we are very proud to give them this financial support. We will continue to work closely with hospital staff as we strive for the best end-of-life and bereavement care for all,” she added.
