Project bridging palliative care gap for minority ethnic groups celebrates success

Stakeholders and volunteers have celebrated the successes of a project aimed at achieving equal access to palliative care services for diverse communities in South East Cardiff.

The Marie Curie ‘Improving access to palliative care services for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in South East Cardiff’ project was funded by the Big Lottery Fund and has been running for three years.

Deputy Minister for Health Vaughan Gething AM joined Marie Curie staff, volunteers and stakeholders gathered to celebrate the success of the BAME project at Butetown Community Centre on Thursday 15^th October.

Those in attendance at the event heard about the impact and reach of the project, as well as hearing from family members whose loved ones had received care and support from Marie Curie.

Vaughan Gething AM, Deputy Minister for Health, said: “I was pleased to be able to speak at this celebration of this successful project which aims to achieve equal access to palliative care services for diverse communities. One of the aims of our End-of-Life Care Delivery Plan is to ensure we reach all communities to support people if they wish to remain in their own home or place of care at the end of their lives.

“High-quality palliative care services should be provided to those in need, wherever they live and die and whatever their underlying condition or disability, without prejudice.”

Shameem Nawaz, Community Development Officer for Marie Curie, said: “The task facing us at the start of this project was a large one, but I am very proud to say that by working with the local community we have made real changes during this time - identifying and breaking down the barriers preventing members of minority ethnic communities from accessing palliative care. I am sure that the values unearthed during this work will continue to shape the work of Marie Curie for many years to come.”

People from BAME communities make up around 19% of Cardiff’s population. However many of these people living with a terminal illness were missing out on end of life care due to a lack of awareness about accessing palliative care services. Social conventions which dictated that family should care for a loved one at home were also acting as a barrier to care.

The project began in September 2012 and built links and networks with community groups, consulting with 130 group members and implementing changes suggested by them.

The Marie Curie Cardiff & the Vale Hospice has made of a number of changes to its practices to make it a more welcoming environment to people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. These changes include an improved quiet room with washing facilities for prayer or quiet contemplation, which is furnished with religious items for different faiths. iPads and CDs have also been made available so that patients can listen to prayers, read books and make contact with relatives.

DVDs and leaflets with information about hospice services have also been produced in a number of different languages.

Around 150 people from diverse communities have been supported since the start of the three-year project, a significant increase on the 30 people supported in the year before the project began.

Among those to have received support through the outreach of the BAME project is Alex Salem of Cardiff, whose mother had cancer and was supported at home and at the day therapy unit at the Marie Curie Cardiff & the Vale Hospice in 2013. Staff from Marie Curie were able to support Alex in making arrangements to fulfil his mother’s final wish to fly back to her native Lebanon before she died.

Alex said: “The support from Marie Curie gave me the time to go on with my day-to-day living. With the Marie Curie Nurses, they would come and they would make sure that she was having the care while I was having my sleep. It gave me the peace of mind that she was in safe hands.  This way I would have the energy to be with her in the morning, be positive and support her.

“Mum always wanted to go back to Lebanon, and she always wanted to spend her final days in Lebanon. The staff at Marie Curie said this was fine and that they would support her. Unfortunately she lasted only a little bit after take-off, but her last thoughts were that she was going home, and Marie Curie made that happen. 

“As a person from a minority ethnic background, I would say that families going through something similar to what we went through need to make use of Marie Curie and the services there. I know we have a culture of bottling things in and doing things at home, but with Marie Curie and this BAME project, it is a perfect service.

The staff at Marie Curie are very understanding - they understand what the patient needs and what the family needs as well. It has been a great help for me and without the support of Marie Curie the whole experience would have been much more difficult for me.”

For more information about the services offered by Marie Curie, please visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/about

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