A new Public Health England report suggests there is a growing understanding within the health sector of what is important to people at the end of life.
Public Health England’s National End of Life Care Intelligence Network (NEoLCIN) worked with partner organisations to collect and analyse end of life care intelligence from a wide variety of sources.
This resulting report, ‘What We Know Now 2014’, summarises their key findings, which include:
- The proportion of people dying at home or in care homes continues to increase
- Patients with an Electronic Palliative Care Co-ordination System (EPaCCS) record and those receiving palliative care services such as hospice at home, Gold Standards Framework or Macmillan services are more likely to die in the place of their preference
- Two in five people with dementia die in hospital, indicating that the trend towards increasing hospital deaths for people living with dementia has reversed
- Factors most importance to people at the end of their life were; having pain and other symptoms managed effectively, being surrounded by loved ones and being treated with dignity
- More GPs are having conversations with people about their end of life care wishes but 25% still say they have never initiated such a conversation
In response to the report, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for End of Life Care, Professor Bee Wee, said: “This important publication brings together recent evidence about end of life care. Gaining a more nuanced and detailed understanding of what the evidence tells us about end of life care, and people’s preferences and experiences, is important to help guide our work in the right direction. There remains a challenge to ensure that the quality of care for people approaching the end of their lives, and those important to them, is as good as it can be, regardless of where this takes place.”
For more information and to download the report, please visit the website.
