The latest episode of the Island Stories podcast with Harriet Hadfield, featuring Mountbatten’s Nigel Hartley, explores the work of the Island’s only hospice and the sensitive subject of death.
Nigel, considered a world leader in end-of-life care, has spoken frankly in his interview with Harriet for Episode 2 of the podcast series.
He talks about changing the language we use around death, for example avoiding phrases like ‘we lost your mother’ as it can cause confusion and adds to the embarrassment society feels tackling the subject.
Nigel says:
“The earlier we get to know people when their life is changing, the more impact we can have. Think about it now, plan for it and make sure people know.
“From my 35 years of experience, illness comes unexpectedly, and death comes unexpectedly. We think death is going to happen way into the future, and if we don’t think about it, it will never happen.”
On any one day, there are around 2,000 people on the Island in the care of Mountbatten, most of whom are being cared for at home, as well as in the hospice building in Newport, and at St Mary’s Hospital. The organisation has seen a 200% increase in need since pre-COVID times, and they expect that to rise another 40% in the next 18 months to 4 years.
In his interview, Nigel highlights how the Isle of Wight’s demographics – 1 in 6 households here are a single person aged 65+ – make us a test case in the United Kingdom.
“It’s an older population. We are an outlier in the UK. If we can get it right here, people in the UK will be very interested.
“People come here to retire, so we are almost 15 years ahead of the rest of the UK… What we can’t do is put our heads in the sand and ignore that. Because what’s happening here is coming to a place near you.”
You can listen to Nigel’s podcast interview via https://bio.site/islandstories.
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