The Global Ageing Network hosted a Palliative Care webinar in December 2023 focused on issues associated with end-of-life: hospice, palliative care, and bereavement support. Guest speakers Donald MacCaskill, CEO of Scottish Care, and Mollie Gurian, vice president of home-based services policy at LeadingAge, led the discussion and shared opportunities for aged care providers to make a difference in how they approach palliative care.

View the webinar recording here and read some takeaways below.

• MacCaskill suggested that time should be spent in planning for and supporting those who grieve and consider bereavement support through a fundamental human rights lens. He believes the experience of dying has been so medicalized it has lost the importance of allowing time for bereavement.
• A UK Commission on Bereavement survey reported that 68% of people reported a negative experience in the workplace around bereavement so they are, in part, focused on educating employers about the importance of supporting their workforce during the process of bereavement.
• Policymakers in the U.S. are reviewing the hospice benefit and are at a crossroads in framing policy to allow good hospice providers to thrive while also protecting communities from those who abuse the benefit.
• Panelists acknowledged that there are two approaches to end-of-life care: one driven by policy and payment, and the other a more grassroots, human-driven approach.  It is important to ensure that payment and policy don’t overtake the human dimension of supporting people at the end of life and beyond.

Thank you to Sodexo for sponsoring this webinar!