Chai Brady
Ahead of the upcoming Budget, the Irish Hospice Foundation has renewed calls for a whole-of-government strategy for end-of-life and bereavement care.
The charity – dedicated to death, dying and bereavement, is urging the Government in a pre-Budget submission to invest in healthcare infrastructure and adequately support end-of-life and bereavement services to ensure the country can respond to the issues that have been highlighted during the pandemic in the care of the dying and bereaved.
Since March, approximately 16,500 people have died in the Republic, with over 1,700 of these Covid-related.
The IHF says that continuing visiting restrictions and infection control measures across healthcare settings and the limit on numbers attending funerals are impacting on those receiving and delivering end-of-life care as well as on the grieving process for families, their extended social circles and healthcare workers. Sharon Foley, CEO of IHF said: “Now that we are coming to live with Covid, we must meet the challenges presented by dying, death and bereavement in the wake of this pandemic.
“Embedding the best end-of-life and bereavement care in all care settings, investigating and responding to the cost of bereavement and long-overdue capital investment in infrastructure, underpin all seven IHF recommendations for Budget 2021,” she said.