I recently attended Orange hospital accident and emergency with a family member. There was no ward bed available for the patient in the next cubicle.
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I know this because I was privy to every conversation between the patient, their family and the doctor, which culminated in an end of life conversation.
It is undignified and unkind for patients and their families to have to have life-changing conversations in the hearing of strangers. Palliative care ward or not, there seems to be a need for a private place in the hospital where people can have end of life conversations and freely ask questions of doctors - something that a lot of people find hard at the best of times.
Families and friends have a right to grieve with confidence that they made the best possible decisions for the person they loved.
Kath Logan, Orange