What we know now 2014

New information collated by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network

Published: 26 June 2015

PHE's National End of Life Care Intelligence Network (NEoLCIN) works with partner organisations to collect, analyse and present end of life care intelligence from a wide variety of sources. This report summarises the key findings of the network and its partners over the last year. Although much of the research has been published previously, this is the first time it has been brought together in one place.

New findings show there is a growing understanding within the health sector of what is important to people at the end of life.

Key findings from the report 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

Download the report, What we know now 2014

View the media release.