The West Yorkshire Advance Care Planning and Bereavement toolkit has now launched! The toolkit is designed to help people to have better conversations and to support personalised care towards the end of their lives.

Many of us may have thought about what we’d like at our funeral or our wishes for our loved ones when we are no longer here. Far fewer of us think about what our wishes might be closer to the end of our lives, and how to ensure that the people caring for us know what is important to us.

St Gemma’s Hospice, in collaboration with Overgate and Wakefield hospices, have developed a toolkit to support these conversations and ensure that everyone can receive personalised care. With the help of stakeholders and people with lived experiences in palliative and end of life care from across West Yorkshire, this toolkit has been co-produced with accessibility in mind.

The team at St Gemma’s, alongside colleagues at Overgate and Wakefield hospices, began by looking at the existing resources available and identifying what new resources needed to be created.

We understand that certain groups may face inequalities and barriers in accessing information and services, which is why this toolkit includes custom resources for people with learning disabilities, dementia, South Asian people, and people experiencing homelessness. Additionally, the toolkit signposts to valuable advance care planning and bereavement resources published by other organisations.

Jo Westbury, Training and Development Manager, and Jane Chatterjee, Lecturer in Palliative Care, led this project for St Gemma’s.

Jo said “We have learned a lot through this project, especially through engaging with different communities and hearing different perspectives. These learnings have informed the content of the toolkit, and they will also impact how we better tailor patient care at St Gemma’s Hospice.”

The toolkit’s resources can be used alongside the ‘My Future Wishes’ resources to ensure that people throughout West Yorkshire have better conversations with their loved ones about advance care planning and bereavement. This is important to ensure that a person’s wishes are honoured, and families don’t have to make these difficult decisions on their own.

Access the West Yorkshire Advance Care Planning and Bereavement toolkit.