Open AccessWhat do we know about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on hospices? A collaborative multi-stakeholder knowledge synthesis
Author(s) -
John I. MacArtney,
Abi Eccles,
Joanna Fleming,
Catherine Grimley,
Jeremy Dale,
Kathryn Almack,
Catriona Mayland,
Sarah Mitchell,
Ruth Driscoll,
Rebecca Hammond,
Lynn Tatnell,
Lesley Roberts
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
health open research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2753-6416
DOI - 10.12688/amrcopenres.13023.1
Subject(s) - ns3 , stakeholder , pandemic , medicine , covid-19 , political science , public relations , virology , hepatitis c virus , virus , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Background : Prior to undertaking a study looking at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic upon lived experiences of hospice services in the West Midlands, we sought to identify the range of issues that hospice service users and providers faced between March 2020 and July 2021, and to provide a report that can be accessed and understood by all interested stakeholders. Methods : We undertook a collaborative multi-stakeholder approach for scoping the range of potential issues and synthesising knowledge. This involved a review of available literature; a focus group with hospice stakeholders; and a collaborative knowledge exchange panel. Results : The literature on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospices remains limited, but it is developing a picture of a service that has had to rapidly adapt the way it provides care and support to its service users, during a period when it faced many fundamental challenges to established ways of providing these services. Conclusions : The impacts of many of the changes on hospices have not been fully assessed. It is also not known what the effects upon the quality of care and support are for those with life-limiting conditions and those that care for them. We found that the pandemic has presented a new normative and service context in which quality of care and life itself was valued that is, as yet, poorly understood.