Night nurses needed for cancer patients to fulfil hope of home death

More cancer patients want to die at home than ever before due to hospital restrictions on visitors, the Irish Cancer Society has said.

The charity is seeking to recruit more nurses to meet the increasing demand for its night nursing service.

Demand for the service, which provides end-of-life care to patients in their own home, jumped by over a fifth last year.

Requests for the free service for patients being cared for by family and friends in their homes rose by 76 per cent in Kildare, 70 per cent in Wicklow and 60 per cent in Dublin.

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The society said the demand has continued into the early months of 2021 with more nurses needed in almost all parts of the country.

Director of services Donal Buggy said over the last year it has recruited more nurses than ever while some "have even postponed their retirement . . . but we still don't have enough. We know that dying at home surrounded by friends and family can provide such comfort to patients. And we want to ensure that we can keep providing such a vital support for anyone who might need it."

During the pandemic

Night nurse Anna Drynan Gale – who covers much of the southeast region – has witnessed some of the unique challenges experienced by families with loved ones receiving end-of-life care during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“With a growing number of families choosing to bring family members home to die, having a night nurse enables them to do this for loved ones who in other circumstances might have remained in hospital,” she said.

“Families want and need to be together . . . They are especially grateful for the support, expertise and professionalism that night nurses bring . . . It is such a rewarding job, and the people we support are so appreciative of what we’re able to do for them.”

Antoinette Britton’s husband Brian received night nursing in 2018 and said the assistance her family was able to rely on was “key”.

“Brian always said he wanted to die at home, but I was feeling very fearful and anxious about how we could make it work as we approached that stage. We were only able to do it thanks to the Irish Cancer Society’s Night Nursing Service,” she said.

“They made sure Brian had everything he needed in the end. It was wonderful because it meant we all had our own time and we could care for him until the end, but we also had that very necessary professional backup for things like medication.”