Dying matters – let’s talk about it
This Dying Matters Awareness Week (5-11 May) the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Department of Health (DoH) are encouraging everyone to start conversations about their future care, dying, death and bereavement to help break down stigma.
This year’s theme, ‘The Culture of Dying Matters’, delves into the diverse ways that communities discuss, navigate, and commemorate death and dying, while emphasising the shared emotions that connect us all in grief and loss.
Sally Convery, Nurse Consultant for Palliative Care at the PHA, said: “There are many differences in the ways that cultures and faiths approach and mark death and dying. But at their core, feelings about dying, and our experiences of grief, are universal emotions that we all share, no matter who we are or where we live.
“We would encourage everyone to talk to each other about dying, death and bereavement. Many of us have specific wishes about how and where we would like to die and what we would like to happen after our death. However, we often neglect to talk about our wishes and thoughts with family and friends, perhaps due to fear of the subject or concern that we may upset others.
“Lack of understanding about what it means to be ill or care for someone who is dying, also means that too many of us struggle to cope when faced with life’s inevitable challenges.
“If we don’t have these types of conversations, it can mean that people’s wishes go unfulfilled and families may struggle to make decisions. There may be important matters you want to address now rather than when time feels limited.”
Some simple steps that you can take to make your end of life experience better, both for yourself and for your loved ones, are:
- Get your financial affairs in order, including making a will and checking with your employer and previous employers about pension arrangements.
- Share your funeral wishes with your loved ones.
- Plan your future care and support.
- Talk through your wishes with your loved ones so they know your thoughts on them.
Diane Walker, Palliative Care in Partnership Macmillan Programme Manager at the DoH said: “We want to get as many people as possible thinking, talking and acting during Dying Matters Awareness Week.
“Talking about dying, death and bereavement is in everyone’s interests as it can help ensure that we all have the opportunity to get the care and support we want, where we want it at the end of our lives.
“This Dying Matters Awareness week with the help of Hospice UK, we are focussing on how different communities and cultures feel, talk about, and deal with death and dying – and what brings them together. Even having a chat with family, friends or colleagues about the importance of preparing for death can change perceptions.
“Through being more confident in talking about dying and taking small actions to plan for the future and support each other, together we can make a big difference. Talking about death does not bring it any closer, but having early and honest discussions can help us all to plan for an inevitable life event.”
For information and resources to support your conversations around dying, death and bereavement visit www.pha.site/DyingMattersResources
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Notes to editors:
Dying Matters is Hospice UK’s flagship campaign. It aims to create an open culture that talks about death and where people feel able to listen and support people who are planning for end of life, those who are dying and bereaved people.
Visit www.hospiceuk.org/our-campaigns/dying-matters to find out more.