TOO ILL TO TALK?

The needs of people with serious or terminal illnesses risk being sidelined, according to a University researcher in the School of Health.

Professor of Community and Primary Care, Neil Small (pictured left), told News & Views that understandable reluctance to plan ahead may mean people's needs and wishes are being unfairly sidelined.

The theory is outlined in a new book, 'Too Ill to Talk? - User Involvement in Palliative Care', which addresses a current health services issue in a refreshingly critical manner.

It challenges the assumption that user involvement is either easy to achieve or that it is necessarily welcomed by all parties, especially those who are seriously ill and 'taking each day at a time'.

Co-author Neil said: "User involvement has become part of health policy initiatives during the last decade, but how realistic is the concept and do all users want to be involved?

"The book brings the voices of people with serious illnesses, and those caring for them, into debate how far health and social care services can reflect on the views of users."

The study, undertaken jointly by researchers at the University and Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, included a series of in-depth interviews with people with three chronic progressive illnesses: cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease.

'Too Ill to Talk?', co-written by Professor Neil Small and Dr Penny Rhodes, is published by Routledge, priced £15.99 and is available in the University's Waterstones bookshop.

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