Community Care (U.K.) | Online – 9 July 2013 – A preoccupation with where people die – rather than what they want at the end of life – has inhibited personalisation and informed choice for patients and families, according to recently published research.1 People are being forced to make unacceptable trade-offs between dying in the place of their choosing or being free from pain and discomfort. Researchers found 78% said their main priority at the end of their lives was a pain-free death. This was followed by being surrounded by loved ones (71%) having privacy and dignity (53%) and being in familiar, peaceful surroundings (45%).However, while 63% of people wanted to die at home, only 27% felt that home was a place where they would be free from pain during their final days.The report concluded: “This focus on where people die – rather than what they want at the end of life – has inhibited personalisation and informed choice for patients and their families. It has led to a lack of proper scrutiny of the experience of dying at home and left other settings neglected when it comes to developing them as good places for people to die…read more
1. A Time and a Place: What People Want at the End of their Life, Sue Ryder, July 2013.