THE first phase of a strategy outlining improvements in services for people with incurable illnesses has been submitted to Bury & Rochdale Health Authority.

The move comes after a Bury consultant claimed terminally-ill patients in local hospitals were being given unnecessary treatment to prolong their lives when they should have been allowed to die with dignity.

As reported in the Bury Times, Dr Mike Finnegan, an expert in palliative care, was calling for a specialist unit to be built as part of Bury's new hospital to provide improved and alternative care for dying patients.

Dr Finnegan, who has been a consultant in palliative care (where patients' conditions are relieved without being cured) at Bury General Hospital for more than three years, said that doctors were "over-treating" patients because they were failing to recognise that their patients were dying.

The 44-year-old consultant stressed that the care for terminally-ill patients at Bury Hospice was excellent but said the care given to non-cancer patients on acute hospital wards was "not very good." Now Dr Finnegan has been working with the palliative care steering group which has come up with a strategy to improve the quality of life of patients, support family and carers.

The multi-agency group responsible for the study has highlighted a number of gaps in services in Bury and Rochdale, including the need for a 24-hour district nursing service, the development of Hospice at Home services and the appointment of a full-time bereavement co-ordinator to offer families support.

The first part of the strategy makes several recommendations that will be tackled in a second document with a detailed action plan for delivering them.

Health bosses are now considering the report presented to them at a meeting on Wednesday ( Feb 9)

Dr Kevin Snee, director of public health for Bury and Rochdale, said: "The report provides an outline of where we need to concentrate our efforts in improving palliative care services. Our main aims are to make services more coordinated, sensitive and accessible for patients who are suffering from incurable conditions."

He added: "We will be looking in detail at how best to implement these plans to improve the quality of life for patients, as well as making the experience as smooth as possible for family and friends at a difficult time."

The Health Authority will consider the second document and a detailed action plan at a later meeting.

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