Heartbeat: Board members hear from patient’s son about compassionate end of life care

December 9, 2019

The Trust Board met at the Midland Metropolitan Hospital site on 3 October and heard from Mr Philip Reeve whose mother, Doris Reeve, sadly passed away on 25 May 2019 following a cardiac arrest.

Mr Reeve explained about the support he and his family received from the caring teams at City Hospital following Mrs Reeve’s transfer by ambulance and during her last days of life.

Mrs Reeve, aged 87, had suffered a heart attack in the centre of Birmingham where she was meeting friends. The ambulance service was called and paramedics administered CPR before travelling via ambulance to hospital where CPR continued. Mrs Reeve’s son Philip was travelling back from Italy and staff managed to get hold of Mrs Reeve’s daughter to explain the situation. Philip went straight from the airport to City Hospital and Mrs Reeve was transferred to the critical care unit.

The critical care team looked after Mrs Reeve and, sadly, had to tell her family that, although her heart had restarted, the prognosis was poor and she was unlikely to recover. Philip and his family understood that Mrs Reeve was in her final stage of life. Despite the shock and grief, they were grateful that they all had time to visit her, say goodbye and prepare for her passing away.

When talking to the Board members about his experience, Philip said: “The care for our family was very, very good. They really helped us to come to terms with it… it was an enormous relief that my mom could have a dignified exit.

“At one point we were concerned as the critical care unit was relocated during the time my mom was there but it all went very smoothly.

“What made a difference was being allowed to stay with mom in her last hours. There was no pressure to go. We had good continuity of care from a small team of nurses. The whole experience was handled very sympathetically.”