Palliative medicine
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Palliative medicine · Jan 2005
A national survey of health professionals and volunteers working in voluntary hospices in the UK. II. Staff and volunteers' experiences of working in hospices.
In this paper we report findings of a 1999 nationally representative survey of independent hospices in the UK, focusing on hospice staff and volunteers' experiences of working in hospices. Nineteen of 25 sampled services participated, and these differed little in terms of service provision, size and region from the total sample of 175 services. A response rate of 70% for randomly sampled hospice staff and volunteers was achieved (n=504). ⋯ These results raise questions about the quality of the relationship between hospice trustees, managers and staff, and about the realities of enhancing multiprofessional teamwork in organizations where there are significant differences between staff groups in perception of, and satisfaction with, the working environment. Voluntary hospice trustees and managers face a difficult task in managing and supporting staff whilst also negotiating relationships with the NHS at a time of rapid change, and ensuring hospices' financial viability. Access to high quality leadership programmes may play an important role in ensuring voluntary hospices are characterized by effective, supportive working relationships.
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This study examined the stresses associated with hospice volunteering, ways of coping and perception of available support. ⋯ The implications of these findings for training volunteers are discussed, especially the need to educate volunteers about the symptoms and signs of cancer.