End of life care – Planning for the End (NCEPOD)
The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) has published Planning for the End, a review of the quality of care provided to adult patients with a diagnosis of dementia, heart failure, lung cancer and liver disease towards the end of life – however, it was noted that the findings apply to deaths from most causes. The sampling period of death or final admission (for community deaths) was between 1st April and 30th September 2022.
Almost a third of people admitted to hospital as an emergency are in their last year of life
The report contains a number of key findings, including:
- Not enough patients had access to early palliative care alongside existing treatments to improve symptoms and quality of life
- Death and dying was not discussed as often as it could have been – more people need to have their end-of-life care wishes recorded
- Patients should have a named care coordinator – they are an accepted standard in cancer services but were less common for other advanced chronic conditions
- Specialist palliative care services were not always available nor involved when needed – they should be provided in hospitals and the community
- Palliative and end of life care should be a core competency for all healthcare staff.
The report also contains seven recommendations that highlight areas suitable for regular local clinical audit and quality improvement to address the above findings, in addition to calls:
- For existing advance care plans to be shared between all providers involved in a patient’s care, and
- To raise public awareness to increase the number of people with a registered health and welfare lasting power of attorney (LPA) well before it is needed.
Read the full report: You can see all key findings and read the report in full by clicking on the link below.
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