#93 Dying Matters with Dr Lucy Pain

In this episode it is my pleasure to talk with Dr Lucy Pain, who is this year’s Dying Matters Awareness week expert. I have the chance to thank Lucy publicly for recommending Conversations About Advance Care Planning as part of the recommended books (and more) for Dying Matters Awareness Week. We explore the importance of week, why language matters and what resource is available through Hospice UK.

Key messages from our discussion

• Lucy explains her passion for breaking down barriers around death and dying

• Lucy explains how the podcast Conversations About Advance Care Planning has helped to share information about Advance Care Planning and discusses four episodes in detail. 

• Four episodes are suggested by Lucy as an  important roadmap to what Advance Care Planning is, why it matters and to help people understand when the time is right. 

• Dying Matters Awareness Week is an opportunity to share resources and  encourage people to think  about death and dying

• The importance of language is discussed and we talk about sensitivity balanced with honesty

Resource

• Access the Dying Matters Awareness Week resource pack  The downloadable PDF includes Dr Lucy Pain's books (and more) to help talk about death and dying

• The pack is available in English and Welsh versions.

• Advance Care Planning & learning from research with Sarah Combes

• Access the podcasts Lucy mentions in this episode:

  • Planning ahead for end of life care with critical care and former End of Life Care paramedic with Jim Walmsley

  • Talking about planning ahead with family and friends with Sonia Kinnair

  • Dying at home, what you need to know and how to be prepared - Recognising when someone might be in the last stages of life

• Follow Dying Matters Awareness activity on Twitter #DMAW24

• Find out information about the The Departure Lounge
  

Communication tools & resource

• Access the podcast How Conversation Analysis can support Advance Care Planning with Professor Ruth Parry 

• REDMAP: REDMAP is a 6-step guide to Future Care Planning conversations with people who are living with a serious illness, health conditions or disabilities that will get worse at some stage, or older people who are becoming frailer. 

• Future Care Planning toolkit Meaningful conversations 

• Talking to relatives : a guide to compassionate phone communication during COVID-19

• Listen by Dr Kathrny Mannix 

• Access the New Planning Ahead tool created in collaboration with Dr Kathryn Mannix

Bio: 

Dr. Lucy Pain is this year’s Dying Matters Awareness week expert. She is a Palliative Medicine Consultant with nearly 20 years' experience caring for people with life limiting illness in hospitals, hospices and their own homes. Lucy’s passion is improving care for everyone in the last year of life and challenging taboos surrounding death and dying.