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Charitably funded hospices and the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study (CovPall)

Garner, Ian W.; Walshe, Catherine; Dunleavey, Lesley; Bradshaw, Andy; Preston, Nancy; Fraser, Lorna K.; Murtagh, Fliss Em; Oluyase, Adejoke O.; Sleeman, Katherine E.; Hocaoglu, Mevhibe; Bajwah, Sabrina; Chambers, Rachel L.; Maddocks, Matthew; Higginson, Irene J.

Authors

Ian W. Garner

Catherine Walshe

Lesley Dunleavey

Andy Bradshaw

Nancy Preston

Lorna K. Fraser

Adejoke O. Oluyase

Katherine E. Sleeman

Mevhibe Hocaoglu

Sabrina Bajwah

Rachel L. Chambers

Matthew Maddocks

Irene J. Higginson



Abstract

BACKGROUND: Independent charitably funded hospices have been an important element of the UK healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospices usually have different funding streams, procurement processes, and governance arrangements compared to NHS provision, which may affect their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to understand the challenges faced by charitably funded hospices during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Eligible Organisations providing specialist palliative or hospice care completed the online CovPall survey (2020) which explored their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible organisations were then purposively selected to participate in interviews as part of qualitative case studies (2020-21) to understand challenges in more depth. Free-text responses from the survey were analysed using content analysis and were categorised accordingly. These categorisations were used a priori for a reflexive thematic analysis of interview data. RESULTS: 143 UK independent charitably funded hospices completed the online CovPall survey. Five hospices subsequently participated in qualitative case studies (n = 24 staff interviews). Key themes include: vulnerabilities of funding; infection control during patient care; and bereavement support provision. Interviewees discussed the fragility of income due to fundraising events stopping; the difficulties of providing care to COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients within relatively small organisations; and challenges with maintaining the quality of bereavement services. CONCLUSION: Some unique care and provision challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic were highlighted by charitably funded hospices. Funding core services charitably and independently may affect their ability to respond to pandemics, or scenarios where resources are unexpectedly insufficient.

Citation

Garner, I. W., Walshe, C., Dunleavey, L., Bradshaw, A., Preston, N., Fraser, L. K., …Higginson, I. J. (2022). Charitably funded hospices and the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study (CovPall). BMC Palliative Care, 21(1), Article 176. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-022-01070-8

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 4, 2022
Online Publication Date Oct 10, 2022
Publication Date Oct 10, 2022
Deposit Date Oct 14, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal BMC Palliative Care
Print ISSN 1472-684X
Electronic ISSN 1472-684X
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 21
Issue 1
Article Number 176
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-022-01070-8
Keywords Charitably funded hospice; COVID-19 pandemic; Mixed-methods research; Funding constraints
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4094963

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022.
Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.




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