What Matters Most to you?

Too often when people are unwell or facing the end of life they are asked “what is the matter with you?” by social and health care staff, rather than “what matters to you?”

With What Matters to You Awareness Day on 6 June 2023, we wanted to share our commitment to our patients and families.

Dorothy House signs What Matters to You Charter

Dorothy House is proud to have signed up to the What Matters to You Charter, alongside our partners across Banes, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB). What Matters To You is all about starting important conversations about how we live, from now until the very end of our lives.

Asking ourselves ‘What matters to me?’ helps us plan for the future. Our answers could be about family, jobs, holidays, education, where we live, what we eat, what we love to do… the list is long.

Knowing what matters can play a huge part in helping to make our lives enjoyable and worthwhile. ‘What matters to me?’ is just as important at the very end of our lives, too. For most of us that’s a long time away. But it’s never too early to talk to our family and friends about ‘What matters.’

“What Matters Most” at Dorothy House

At Dorothy House, we aren’t just paying lip service to the What Matters charter; personalised care is something that we are passionate about.

The Outcome Assessment and Complexity Collaborative (OACC) offers a suite of measures to allow us to track patient symptoms. Our healthcare professionals will then take the time to understand what issues are causing the patient the most distress or discomfort and tailor a personalised care plan to address this, rather than just offering clinical pain relief.

Another key metric that we track is the number of Advance Care Planning (ACP) conversations that have been held. ACP is a process of discussions to help people to establish their priorities in end of life care in anticipation or recognition of future ill health. The discussions should be documented, reviewed regularly and communicated to key people involved in that person’s care.

As part of the ACP we offer at Dorothy House, all our patients are asked to complete a Recommended Summary Plan for Emergency Care and Treatment (ReSPECT) form. The ReSPECT process empowers patients to guide health professionals on what treatments they would or would not want to be considered for. It can also record the things that are most important to them and that should be prioritised.

Download the ReSPECT form here

ReSPECT is a process where patients and their healthcare team talk together and work out a personalised plan for potential future emergency treatment – to ensure they receive the best possible treatment for their individual situation and their wishes are respected.

“What Matters Most” to a Junior Doctor

We spoke to Eve, a Junior Doctor in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire area about why What Matters conversations are so important.

What matters to me

My name is Eve and I am a Junior Doctor working for the BANES, Swindon & Wiltshire NHS Integrated Care Board (BSWICB). I am interested in advance care planning and the compassionate conversations we can have with people. Through this I have been lucky enough to work both on national and local What Matters Most groups and have been part of some amazing work and conversations. A few of which I would like to share with you.

What is ‘What Matters To You’/ WMTY?

What Matters Conversations are about asking people what is most important to them. It is largely thought about in terms of advance care planning; when discussing what people might want or think is important at the end of their lives. But really it’s much more than that, and it is aiming to be part of a social movement for change, where people of all ages, in many settings, have the space to communicate what is important to them.

Why WMTY conversations should be adopted

It seems to me that developing the language to have these important end of life planning conversations, or facilitating the space to have them, throughout the life course will enrich the conversations we have.

There is loads of great stuff out there to explain more about what WMTY all means, both to patients and to staff. Is it really a blog if it doesn’t start by linking to a TED talk? So, the first video I would recommend is a TED talk which presents What Matters to You as a vital sign and gives some great examples of the impact that these conversations can have.

What matters to You Day – 9 June, 2023

What Matters to You Day is on the 9 June 2023. I cannot think of a better day for organisations and professionals to sign up to the National What Matters to You Charter. This Charter helps guide professionals and healthcare providers in ensuring a consistent compassionate practice. At a local BSW level we have proudly signed up to the Charter, which is available with some other resources here.
The main principles are:

What Matters Most Conference – 2022

The national What Matters working group hosted an online, day conference in 2022 to talk all things What Matters. It was a really interesting and useful day. We talked about everything from building a movement, to patient and professional perspectives and much more. Luckily the videos of the conference are available on the Marie Curie YouTube page to watch back.

One of the stand out talks for me was from Chris Lubbe. He told us about his activism work with Nelson Mandela and a Zulu greeting ‘Sawubona’ which means ‘I see you’. I think this encapsulates the compassionate communities and what matters most approach to health and advanced care planning. If we start these conversations with compassion and this idea of talking to truly see people, hopefully we can really make a difference in people’s life and death; shaping a package of care that is bespoke for them.

“If you think you’re too small or insignificant to make a difference, you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito.”
Nelson Mandela

What matters to professionals?

Another way of thinking about What Matters from an organisational perspective, is to consider what matters to the people that work there. Whether that be about understanding what is important to staff members caring for people at the end of their life, or about what matters to them as people when they are at work more generally.

If you are a feeling inspired by this concept, then the What Matters To You Awareness Day on the 9th June, 2023 is a great day to start having conversations with your loved ones and health professionals.

What Matters to You in Banes, Swindon & Wiltshire

“We are encouraging everyone to ask ‘what matters to you? We support many patients who have failing health, a life limiting illness, or poor prognosis. Supporting patients nearing the end of life and supporting their families is one of the most important things that we do, and asking ‘what matters to you’ enables us to truly consider how we provide person and family centred care. Let’s all consider how we can support important conversations asking ‘what matters to you?’ Let’s then listen to what matters to the person and try to support what matters to them.”

Helen Meehan, BSW End of Life Care Alliance What Matters to You? Working Group Chair.

If you would like to start talking through what matters to you with your healthcare providers, you can download the ReSPECT form here to help start the conversation.