Charitably funded hospices and the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study (CovPall).
BMC Palliat Care
; 21(1): 176, 2022 Oct 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2064782
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Independent charitably funded hospices have been an important element of the UK healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospices usually have different funding streams, procurement processes, and governance arrangements compared to NHS provision, which may affect their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to understand the challenges faced by charitably funded hospices during the COVID-19 pandemic.METHODS:
Eligible Organisations providing specialist palliative or hospice care completed the online CovPall survey (2020) which explored their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible organisations were then purposively selected to participate in interviews as part of qualitative case studies (2020-21) to understand challenges in more depth. Free-text responses from the survey were analysed using content analysis and were categorised accordingly. These categorisations were used a priori for a reflexive thematic analysis of interview data.RESULTS:
143 UK independent charitably funded hospices completed the online CovPall survey. Five hospices subsequently participated in qualitative case studies (n = 24 staff interviews). Key themes include vulnerabilities of funding; infection control during patient care; and bereavement support provision. Interviewees discussed the fragility of income due to fundraising events stopping; the difficulties of providing care to COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients within relatively small organisations; and challenges with maintaining the quality of bereavement services.CONCLUSION:
Some unique care and provision challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic were highlighted by charitably funded hospices. Funding core services charitably and independently may affect their ability to respond to pandemics, or scenarios where resources are unexpectedly insufficient.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Hospice Care
/
COVID-19
/
Hospices
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Palliat Care
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12904-022-01070-8
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS