Staff in care homes for the elderly will receive training to provide palliative care to residents thanks to a new pilot project.

Providing in-house palliative care at the homes will avoid the residents having to travel to and from other medical institutions to receive treatment during the last days of their life,  Active Aging Minister Jo Etienne Abela said as he announced details of the project on Saturday. 

The project has been launched at the Mtarfa home for the elderly, where a team of 19 multidisciplinary healthcare professionals have received training to provide end-of-life care at the facility.

As well as doctors and nurses, the palliative care team includes psychotherapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and even a spiritual advisor.

“This is an important project as most of the residents share the sentiment of wanting to remain in the place they call home,” CEO of Active Ageing and Community care Renzo Degabriele said.

“They do not wish to spend their final days away from home. With this project, we will be able to offer the highest level of care during their last days.” 

Abela said that the project was also offering staff at care homes the opportunity for continuous professional development and career progression while aiming to introduce multidisciplinary teams to more homes as more professionals are gradually certified.

“As a concept, palliative care is difficult to describe, but there are certain symptoms that we begin to experience as we approach the end of our lives that can be treated and mitigated,” he said.

“In my career, I have provided children, adults and even the elderly with this sort of care and it is an issue that hits several strata of the population, not just the elderly.”

“What is important is that when we reach this phase in our lives, we can have our symptoms treated in a modern way and with the latest technology so that these symptoms aren’t allowed to override our will and our existence.” 

Abela said that currently, another 15 professionals are undergoing training and that the plan is to eventually roll out the project to other care homes.