Health and Social Care Institute
     

Compassionate communities

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Compassionate Communities

For further information or to discuss the project, contact Debbie Hall, 01642 342778, or email d.a.hall@tees.ac.uk.

Teesside is the first area in the country to implement a compassionate community approach to use public health approaches to transform end of life services.

The compassionate communities project was developed following the North East's 25 year public health strategy Better Health, Fairer Health, published in 2008.

The strategy specifies ten themes, each now supported by a regional advisory group to drive forward change. One of the ten theme groups is 'A good death', which advocates public health approaches to the end of life.
More about compassionate communities

Compassion at the end of life charter

A charter 'Compassion at the end of life' was produced by the regional advisory group in collaboration with patients and their carers. It has been the subject of extensive local consultation and the project has now started at the University, where there is a real opportunity to make a difference.

Within the North East of England, the aim was to establish a charter for end of life care, with a statement of the rights and entitlements that should be honoured both for the individual preparing for death, and for their carers and families. This should relate not only to medical and nursing care, but to the behaviours of all agencies and sectors who deal with these issues.
 Download the charter (pdf - 45kb)

Resources

The compassionate communities project works all over the North East; with schools, charities, volunteer organisations, local authorities and more.
More about the resources available

Photography competition

Over the course of January and February 2011, the compassionate communities project ran a photography competition hoping to capture images that demonstrated the principles of the project.

The staff and students of Teesside University were asked to submit photographs based around the themes of compassion, community and a good death.
View the winning photographs.