Voxy NZ 13/8/13

Families in five North Island east coast communities will share their experiences about the end-of-life care of an older family member for a unique community study.

Over the next three years, families and whänau will offer their experiences about the care received by older family members at the end of life.

The purpose of the project is to build up community-based models of palliative and end of life care. As New Zealand, in line with the rest of the OECD, is experiencing a rapidly aging population, the results will have national implications.

The study recently received just over $1.1 million in funding from the Health Research Council NZ, enabling it to start this month.

"This is the first study we know of where older people have been asked to identify their priorities for end of life care and give the contact details for a family/whānau member to be interviewed after their death to determine the extent to which these were actually met"", says Professor Merryn Gott, the study’s principal investigator.

Read more at: http://www.voxy.co.nz/health/families-contribute-unique-study/5/164297