Heart failure specialist nurses' use of palliative care services: a comparison of surveys across England in 2005 and 2010.

Heart Failure Nurse Specialists play a key role in facilitating the provision of palliative care for patients with advanced heart failure where supportive and palliative care needs are comparable to those with cancer. This article describes the attitudes of heart failure nurse specialists towards palliative care in the management of patients and their interface with specialist services in the context of changing policy drivers over this time period. Data is drawn from two national surveys, the first in 2005, and repeated in 2010 following national educational initiatives.

Experiences of hospital care reported by bereaved relatives of patients after a stroke: a retrospective survey using the VOICES questionnaire.

Aim: This paper is a report of a study conducted to explore the determinants of satisfaction with health and social care services in the last 3 months and 3 days of life as reported by bereaved relatives of those who died from a stroke in an institutional setting.

Background: There is limited research about how best to meet the needs of those who die from stroke. A thorough understanding of the determinants of satisfaction with end of life care is crucial for effective service provision to increase awareness of the needs of dying patients.

The quality and adequacy of care received at home in the last 3 months of life by people who died following a stroke: a retrospective survey of surviving family and friends using the Views of Informal Carers Evaluation of Services questionnaire.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the UK. Despite this, little is known about the care needs of people who die from or following a stroke. In early 2003, a total of 183 questionnaires were returned from a survey of 493 people who had registered a stroke-related death in four Primary Care Trusts, giving a response rate of 37%.

Patient descriptions of breathlessness in heart failure.

Objective: To explore patient experience of breathlessness in heart failure.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 27 patients with chronic heart failure and were analysed using a constant comparative approach.

Results: The patients had a mean age of 69 (range 38-94 years).

'If only someone had told me . . .' A review of the care of patients dying in hospital.

Approximately half of all patients who die do so in hospital. Despite the advent of palliative care in the UK, there is evidence that the care that many patients receive in the final phase of their illness in hospital is poor. Building on a study of bereaved relatives' views of the information provided by an inner city hospital trust during an admission in which a patient died, this article explores the factors that may contribute to sub-optimal care for patients dying in hospital.

A qualitative study of chronic heart failure patients' understanding of their symptoms and drug therapy.

Objectives: To explore patients' understanding of their symptoms and the treatment of their heart failure.

Design: Qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews, using a constant comparative approach.

Subjects: 27 patients identified by Cardiology and Care of the Elderly physicians as having (a) symptomatic heart failure (New York Heart Association functional classes II, III and IV) and (b) a hospital admission for heart failure in the previous 20 months.