Meitheal Muintire
Irish End-of-Life Care Project
About the project
The Irish End-of-Life-Care Project, co-sponsored by Irish in Britain and Innisfree Housing Association aims to develop a community informed response to improve practice in enabling dignified and responsive end-of-life care for individuals and their families.
The project was mandated by a unanimous vote of member organisations at Irish in Britain’s AGM in November 2024.
New report published
Following a national consultation we published the report, Sing our own Song: End-of-Life Care and the Irish Community in Britain, findings from a national consultation.
Open Report PDF Open page tuner version
Meitheal Muintire
The project’s title "Meitheal Muintire" comes from the ancient tradition of community teamwork in rural Ireland.
"Meitheal" (pronounced "meh-hal") describes this concept of cooperation, a coming together in the service of a shared task. "Muintire" means "people" or "family" in Irish, so "meitheal muintire" emphasises the community aspect of the tradition.
We started by listening to the end-of-life experiences of Irish people, their families and carers living in Britain. As part of this process, we have collected examples of good practice alongside details of the challenges people have faced.
We have sought input from all parts of the Irish community and particularly from Travellers, survivors, people of mixed heritage and LGBTQ+ communities.
Community contribution
The community has been able to contribute to the project in a range of ways including online, face-to-face, in groups, individually and at events.
At the end of the consultation we published the 'Sing our own Song' report to set the way ahead – a community charter for change.
We intend to use this report to spread examples of good practice but also to seek support for solutions to the identified challenges from representatives, organisations and bodies.
The desired outcome is for the Irish community network to be able and confident to actively promote culturally sensitive end-of life-care.
Activities
Facilitated workshops: the first took place in London (read report HERE) and was followed by workshops in Liverpool and Leeds.
Contact
If you are interested in contributing to this project, please contact info@irishinbritain.org with subject line 'End-of-life care project'.