A CALL HAS BEEN MADE for enhanced policies relating to the prevention and relief of the suffering of patients – known as palliative care – and also for the establishment of a hospice centre to deal specifically with persons who require long-term care for chronic diseases and terminal illnesses.
Minister of Health Donville Inniss, speaking yesterday at the Barbados Association of Palliative Care’s annual conference at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, said that with an ageing population and with palliative issues being predominant in the older generation, it was imperative that Barbados put such policies in place.
He said that the recently conducted Barbados Palliative Care Needs Assessment Project indicated a social preference for a stand-alone inpatient hospice, with a maximum projected annual capacity of 250 patients.
The project also identified outpatient phone line consultation and direct inpatient care services among others as necessary. (LK)
