They will be created on the initiative of the world-famous neurosurgeon Henry Marsh.
Today, May 9, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration Maksym Kozytskyi held a working meeting with the outstanding British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, who is a pioneer of neurosurgical care for Ukraine and for 30 years regularly provides free consultations in medical institutions in many regions of Ukraine, as well as the head of the “Smart medical Aid” by Iryna Rybinkina, a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist with 20 years of experience working in hospitals in Great Britain.
During the meeting, Henry Marsh spoke about the features of the palliative care system in England.
“Only 30% of Britons die in hospices, so this percentage is small, because most people want to spend their last days surrounded by family and friends. I believe that it will be useful for Ukrainian specialists to come to England and study our palliative approaches, because the English approach is one of the best in the world. It is extremely necessary that such patients receive high-quality care and support, so Lviv Oblast can become the first region of Ukraine to implement British standards of palliative care. I will be very happy if I help in the development and reform of palliative care in Ukraine,” Henry Marsh emphasized.
Maksym Kozytskyi said that there are 700 beds in palliative care facilities in the region, where they provide the necessary assistance to seriously ill people and patients with incurable diseases. In addition, palliative mobile teams are already working in the region, but our doctors are interested in adopting the British experience.
“After the creation of the National Health Service, hospitals became more interested in creating palliative departments, because all expenses are compensated by one of the National Health Service packages. But at the same time, hospitals lack specialists who can provide qualified care. In the region, assisted living facilities and hospices are functioning, which are financed from the regional budget, while palliative departments at hospitals are financed from the state budget. Therefore, it is extremely important to find a balance between state and regional provision of the network of these institutions. Inpatient palliative care at hospitals and palliative outpatient teams are two different areas of care. And we are ready to work on their strengthening. At the same time, many people choose to spend their last days at home, so it makes sense to create a network of visiting teams that will support palliative patients,” said Maksym Kozytskyi.
According to the results of the meeting, it was agreed that Lviv Oblast will become a pilot region where British approaches to palliative care will be implemented. The Henry Marsh Foundation “Hospice Ukraine” and the “Smart medical Aid” foundation, with the support of the Lviv OVA, will launch a project of mobile palliative care teams in the Lviv region, which will strengthen the work of those teams already working in the region. Mobile teams of palliative care are equipped with cars with all the necessary equipment for providing professional care. In the next few months, they plan to start training for Ukrainian specialists.
“As of now, 48 health care facilities in Lviv Region have concluded an agreement with the NHSHU under the package “Stationary palliative care for adults and children” and 64 under the package “Mobile palliative medical care for adults and children.” We will start implementing this project on the basis of one of these institutions. We will actively work on its implementation as soon as possible, and later on its scaling. The key goal is to reduce the suffering of people with serious and incurable diseases,” summed up the head of the Lviv region.