Palliative care cahrities land £1 million BUPA fund
Howard Lake | 25 January 2007 | News
BUPA Giving has pledged £1,187,041 to The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute and The National Council for Palliative Care.
BUPA Giving is a new charitable initiative set-up to celebrate BUPA turning 60 next year and complements BUPA’s existing charitable initiatives. BUPA Giving supports the development of services and those who provide them to improve health and care.
The money will be used over three years to fund three different projects in the fields of palliative and dementia care in care homes. Palliative care improves the quality of life for patients and families who face life-threatening illness by providing pain relief, symptom relief and spiritual and psychosocial support from diagnosis to the end of life and bereavement.
The chosen projects will seek to extend the use of the acclaimed Liverpool Care Pathway in care homes, developed specifically for people dying from dementia.
The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed seven years ago by the Palliative Care Institute based at the Marie Curie Hospice in Liverpool. This innovative programme developed palliative care techniques to provide people with the highest quality of care.
In 2000 the LCP gained widespread national and international recognition when it was awarded National Beacon Status for Palliative Care. The annual National Beacon Award recognises best practice and is a reflection of the dedication and hard work shown by The Palliative Care Institute.
The first project involves introducing the LCP into 125 of BUPA’s care homes. These homes will provide training and support to enable residents to receive palliative care using the LCP’s award-winning techniques that have been shown to improve quality of life.
The second project is a joint bid from Marie Curie and the National Council for Palliative Care. It will offer BUPA Care Homes the opportunity to engage in a unique development programme focused on care delivery and staff training. It also includes providing the NCPC’s good practice ./guidance and services to all of BUPA’s care homes.
The final project will be a national pilot for the use of the LCP programme in caring for residents with dementia. With the support of the Liverpool Marie Curie team and the specialist dementia charity, for dementia, BUPA will be developing personalised palliative care for people with dementia. At the end of the project the goal will be to offer high quality palliative care for people with dementia.
Mark Ralf, chairman of BUPA Giving, said: “The need to provide high quality palliative care is extremely important for BUPA especially for people living in our care homes who are often approaching the end of life. We are delighted to be able to work with Marie Curie, the National Council for Palliative Care and for dementia on these three year projects that we expect to make a long-lasting contribution to the care of residents who live in our care homes.”
Professor John Ellershaw, clinical director of palliative care at the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute, said: “The institute, which is the first of its kind in the country, has long been recognised as a centre of excellence in palliative care research. These projects have the potential to make a real difference to the care of people at the end of their lives.”
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For further press information, please contact:
Thomas Cook
Press Officer
BUPA Corporate Communications
Tel: 020 7656 2638
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Notes to editors:
· BUPA is the UK market leader in health and care with a strong international presence. It has 8 million customers in 180 countries and 42,000 employees. Its main interests are health insurance, hospitals, care homes for older people and young disabled, health assessments, workplace health and childcare services. Sanitas in Spain, HBA in Australia, IHI in Denmark and AMEDEX in the US are all part of the BUPA Group. BUPA reinvests all its surpluses back into the business. The BUPA Foundation is an independent charity which funds medical research.
· Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the largest cancer charities in the UK. Dedicated to the care of people with cancer, it aims to enhance their quality of life and provide support for families and carers. There are 10 Marie Curie hospices providing the largest number of palliative care beds outside the NHS.
· For further information please visit
www.mariecurie.org.uk/pcliverpool
or telephone 0151 801 1490.
· The National Council for Palliative Care is the umbrella organisation for all those who are involved in providing, commissioning and using palliative care and hospice services in England, Wales & Northern Ireland. NCPC promotes the extension and improvement of palliative care services for all people with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. NCPC promotes palliative care in health and social care settings across all sectors to government, national and local policy makers.
· For further information please visit www.ncpc.org.uk or telephone 020 7697 1520.
· For further information about for dementia please visit www.fordementia.org.uk or telephone 020 7874 7210.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.