Making Your Voice Heard.. The first decade of the Eastern Health and Social Services Council

1994-95: Monitoring services through effective research

The councils on-going programme of research into many important aspects of health and social services reached a new momentum in this year.

The objective of a research programme is to gather important information about services - and to subsequently use this to try and further improve them.

The Council commissioned five major research projects this year:

• An information resource to offer people a greater range of advice on many aspects of the new community care schemes.
• A review of the needs of people who act as the immediate carers of people with physical disability.
• A review of infection control measures offered by dentists.
• An examination of the range and effectiveness of 'palliative' care services for people suffering from terminal illness.
• A survey on the quality of food served to patients in local hospitals

The research projects commissioned on palliative care and hospital food were particularly important because of their sharp focus upon the very special needs of the terminally ill, and the value to patients of having hospital meals of good quality.

The Council's survey on palliative care specifically recommended to health boards and government that:

• Highly-specialist care offered by organisations such as Marie Curie and the Northern Ireland Hospice should be emulated by those offering care to patients from within the local NHS.
• People who are terminally ill should be able to work with their doctors and other professionals to plan the best programme of care for them.

The Council's survey on the quality of hospital food was undertaken among patients at the Mater Hospital in Belfast and similarly produced a range of recommendations aimed at improving the quality of meals at all local hospitals. Food for thought!