Care and information received by lay carers of terminally ill patients at the Leicestershire Hospice

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Abstract
This paper is based on interviews with 59 lay carers of patients admitted to the Leicestershire Hospice. Carers were interviewed approximately a week after patient admission, and 37 carers were re-interviewed approximately three months after the death of the patient. Most lay carers were satisfied with the care and attention they received, although they were somewhat less satisfied with care and attention received from community nurses and GPs than from hospice nurses and doctors. Carers expressed satisfaction with the care received by hospice inpatients and indicated that the good care their relative or close friend received was an important factor in relieving their anxieties. They were also positive about the reassurance and care which they themselves received from hospice doctors and nurses. There was a generally high level of satisfaction about the information which they received from hospice staff, although a minority of carers had only limited contact with hospice staff, and it was these who were unhappy about the information which they had received.