End of life companionship: equipping volunteers with basic skills to offer support in the community

Background: The value of volunteer end-of-life companions has been recognised in hospitals and compassionate neighbourhood schemes (Hall & Meiton, 2019. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 9:229; Wilson, Justice, Thomas, et al., 2005. Health Serv Manage Res.18:244). Experience of people spending their last days in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the call that no one should be left to die alone unless it is their wish (Ramos, Hashimoto & Henry, 2020. Int J Care Caring. 4:595). The End of Life Companionship project is a funded collaboration between the Centre for the Art of Dying Well at St Mary’s University, Twickenham and the St Vincent de Paul Society, England and Wales (SVP) to equip SVP Members with basic companioning skills to support people nearing the end of life and their families.