Specialist palliative care services ‘help more patients die at home’

A new report has shown how more patients are able to live out their last days at home due to the availability of specialist palliative care services in the community.

Data from the National Council for Palliative Care and Public Health England has revealed that 46.2 percent of people receiving specialist end-of-life care in the community died in their own home, compared to only 21.8 percent nationally.

Moreover, 45 percent of those referred to a specialist palliative care inpatient service were discharged, with the majority returning home – dispelling the myth that people only go into a hospice to die.

Finally progress is also being made to open up specialist palliative care services to non-cancer patients, although there remains some distance to go in this regard.

Professor Julia Verne, clinical lead for Public Health England's National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, said: "Specialist palliative care services working together with community services are essential to supporting patients if they choose to die at home."

The General Medical Council considers that patients are approaching the end of life when they are likely to die within the next 12 months. Palliative care focuses on helping patients to live as well as possible and to die painlessly and with dignity.