Call for NHS to do more to help terminally ill people die at home
This very interesting article flags up a real issue for those seeking to die at home in rural settings where the challenges of supporting people in this decision are more acute. It tells us:
The government’s health advisers are urging the NHS to do more to help terminally ill patients achieve their wish of dying at home.
The call by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) comes after figures showed that fewer patients were dying in hospital and more were passing away at home or in a care home or hospice.
Almost one in four of the 500,000 people a year who die in England do so at home. According to new data published by Public Health England (PHE) that is the highest figure for 12 years.
In 2016, accounting for all the deaths, 23.5% occurred in the person’s home, 5% more than did so in 2004, PHE said.
The percentage of people dying in hospital fell by 11% over the same period, from 57.9% in 2004 to 46.9% in 2016, according to PHE’s latest end-of-life care profiles.
PHE said the trend showed that more people were choosing to die at home, in the company of relatives and friends.
Research showed that four in five people approaching death wanted to end their days in familiar surroundings, at home, yet many were denied the chance.
“Patients should have the opportunity, wherever possible, to die in the place of their choosing, with their symptoms effectively managed,” said Gillian Leng, NICE’s deputy chief executive, responding to the shift away from deaths in hospital.
The number of people dying in a residential or nursing home also rose by 5%, from 16.8% in 2004 to 21.8% in 2012. The other 5.7% of deaths in 2016 happened at a hospice.