Palliative and End of Life Care

Talking to a healthcare professional about death and dying

Dr Fran Hakkak, Medical Director from Compton Care and clinical lead for palliative and end of life care in the Black Country, shares her top tips when having conversations with healthcare professionals about death and dying.

We need to talk about dying 

Passing away, passing on, falling asleep, departing this world… we use lots of different words to try to avoid talking about death and dying. It’s something that will happen to us all one day, but we are often reluctant to face the facts, so we use other words and phrases to avoid saying the word ‘dying’. 

Death often isn’t an easy subject to talk about, but we’ve put together a short film which can help us all to start having discussions with the people we love.

End of life care and support

The NHS has produced an online guide for people who are approaching the end of their life. Some parts of it may also be useful for people who are caring for someone who is dying, or people who want to plan for their own end of life care.

It covers what to expect, thinking about your wishes for your future care, and looking after your emotional and psychological wellbeing.

Visit nhs.uk here to view their online guide.

In the Black Country, we’re clear that the care you get in your final days should be of the same quality, no matter where you live. That’s why local health and care providers have developed a new shared strategy on palliative and end-of-life care.

Resources to help you and your family 

Here are some resources to help you and your family talk about death and dying. We’ve split them into sections, to help you find the right help at the right time.

Once someone has died, how can you support people