Nearly a third of those at the end of their lives want to die in their care home

Nearly a third of those at the end of their lives said they want to die in their care home, according to a recent survey.

The research published in a report by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network reveals that 47 per cent would like to die at home, 29 per cent in a care home, 33 per cent in a hospice and one per cent in hospital.

The study ‘What do we know now that we didn’t know a year ago? New intelligence on end of life care in England’ pulls together facts and figures from a wide range of recent studies and surveys giving an insight into the pattern of death and dying.

It reveals that people still prefer to die in their usual place of residence, whether home or care home, or in a hospice. Yet over half still die in hospital.

However things are changing, said the report.

At the beginning of the 20th century almost everybody died at home, but by the end it was down to about 20 per cent.

It is only in the last few years that trends have started to reverse; the number of people dying in their home or care home is increasing while the number of people dying in hospital dropped from 58.3 per cent in 2005 to 53.3 per cent in 2010.

The report also highlights that on average people have two emergency hospital admissions in their last year of life, but that there is a group of people who are admitted on multiple occasions in their last year - sometimes 10 times or more.

Now that this information is available, it is apparent that more needs to be done to help this group of people, the report said.

Claire Henry, director of the National End of Life Care Programme, said: "One thing that shines through in this report is that there are numerous factors which make a person more or less likely to receive high quality end of life care.

"For example, we know that those who are identified as being at the end of life at an early stage and are placed on an electronic palliative care co-ordination system are likely to get significantly better care.

"We must use this information as a lever for change to help identify and prioritise where to channel our efforts most effectively in order to significantly improve end of life care for all."

Dr Julia Verne, clinical lead for the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, said: "In the two years since the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network was created, we have made enormous progress. We now know much more about the factors that influence differences in where people die, for example age, socioeconomic factors and cause of death.

"We want professionals to be able to take our findings on board and use them to improve services for people who are dying. This is all about ensuring people at the end of life and their carers can have the care they really want, which will make such an important difference to people’s lives."

Simon Chapman, National Council for Palliative Care's (NCPC) director of policy and parliamentary affairs, called it a “fascinating and important report” and said it “will be of immense help to new commissioners and service providers, helping them understand what needs to be in place locally as they develop end of life care services in their area.

"Everybody interested in improving end of life care across the country should read the report carefully."