The impact and implications of Covid-19 on the relational, social, and healthcare experiences of hospice care in the West Midlands

People with life limiting conditions are some of the most vulnerable to Covid-19. Until recently, hospice care has largely been associated with in-person, specialist, and building centric support. Covid-19 has been a catalyst to its redesign, bringing rapid and on-going changes that are affecting every aspect of hospice care and support for the dying. However, we do not know how effective these changes to hospice services have been, how they have affected experiences of providing or receiving hospice care and support, and if these changes may have been experienced unevenly.

The study’s aim is to identify nationally relevant recommendations to mitigate adverse relational, social and healthcare impacts of Covid-19 upon hospice services for vulnerable service users and those that care for them. The West Midlands region provides an ideal context in which to explore these issues, with its diverse community and broad demographic population served by 22 hospices.

We will collate and provide an expert review of the grey evidence on Covid-19-associated service redesign that hospices in the region are producing. We will also produce in-depth understanding of the experiences of those involved in receiving and providing hospice care during the pandemic, and the determinants that are affecting this. We will use this evidence to quickly develop recommendations for local and national policy and practice. We will draw on our existing networks and collaborate with Marie Curie to develop a series of reports, delivered and disseminated throughout the project, to hospice service users, stakeholders, political leaders and civil society groups.