The Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) through its Hospice friendly Hospitals programme is aiming to make Ireland the best place in which to die. It is striving to ensure that the 30,000 or so people who pass away each year - 60 per cent of them in hospital - have a good death. So far, the public focus has been on a co-operative effort with nearly 40 hospitals of varying types.
The target is to create and implement a national standard in which dying patients have their autonomy respected, where there will be good communications, dignified surroundings and most importantly, integrated care.
From the hospital gate to the mortuary, and then as far as the grave, the goal is to guarantee that we all have what President McAleese has called a caring, careful death. How we deal with death and bereavement has been described correctly as a measure of our humanity.
The programme, which also champions the bereaved, has been buttressed in recent days with the publication of Grief at Work - Developing a Bereavement Policy. It offers advice to employers and managers on how to support grieving colleagues. There is a concomitant call by IHF chief executive Eugene Murray for a national policy on how employers deal with bereavement. It is suggested, for example, that there should be a statutory right to paid leave days on the death of a close relative.
Many employers are already sympathetic to bereaved employees. Some have written agreements on leave entitlements. In its lobbying of Government for a legal right to compassionate leave, the IHF should emphasise that its suggestions on compassionate leave - for example five days for the loss of a parent or child - are the minimum required by a civilised society. In the meantime, there are useful tips for employers and managers. These include acknowledging an employee's loss, talking to him or her, attending funerals, being flexible and sensitive, and developing a bereavement policy. The advice from an IHF booklet, When a Loved One Dies, is also apposite. It reminds us that bereaved people can be isolated and feel friendless. They need people. They need reassurance that they are respected and loved and that their loss is understood. Most of all they need a listening ear.
Employers should be aware that, as the booklet outlines, bereaved people can have good and bad days. At times they may become unappreciative, tetchy or even angry with those most prepared to comfort them. The IHF, in highlighting an important national and workplace challenge, has shown an awareness that good social policy is best developed by a combination of legislative provisions, goodwill and stakeholder support.