The Forum on End of Life in Ireland was
inaugurated by the Irish Hospice Foundation
(IHF) at the start of 2009 to "identify
what matters most to the public regarding end of life from a wide range of
perspectives: social, health, economic, legislative, administrative,
educational, and religious''.
The National Council of the Forum on End of Life is now carrying forward the Forum's work and vision.
The Irish Hospice Foundation aims to
ensure that no one will die alone and in pain. It also wants to change the culture of death,
dying and bereavement.
To continue with this work there
was a need to discover what people in Ireland believed about death. The first
task of the Forum, therefore, was to listen and discover the perceived issues.
Some of these have, of course, been
emerging in the work of the Irish Hospice Foundation, in its Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme, in the National
Audit on End-of-Life Care in Hospitals, during consultations on quality
standards, work on the Palliative Care for All Programme and in the IHF’s
extensive bereavement work.
The Forum on End-of-Life therefore aimed:
To promote a national conversation on
dying, death and bereavement
To ascertain the keys issues at end of
life
To explore the views and concerns of the
public and varying organisations
To ensure a wide range of views are
heard
To report on the issues emerging from
the Forum workshops and submissions
To prepare the ground for a national
coalition to advance the views emerging from the Forum.
How we deal with death and dying has
been described as a measure of our humanity. In other words we should treat our going out with
the same respect and even awe that we attach to our coming in, our birth. Both occasions
are momentous. Both are part of the life cycle. Yet we often fail to face the one inexorable
fact of death: it faces us all.
People in Ireland often believe, too, that
they are good at death. Large funerals and the associated hospitality can, however,
give a distorted impression. There is still a considerable taboo about discussing death issues. We
say we are sorry for “your trouble”. We can hesitatewhen a person is dying to say just that.
We have varying, practices,
understandings and protocols concerning death, dying and bereavement. Some are
good and some are bad. When they are bad the main sufferers are the dying
patients and their loved ones.
Much has been learned from the deliberations of the Forum and its Report. The National Council will continue listening, researching and promoting reforms in the way we deal with death and dying.
The attendance at the launch of the Forum in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin