Pressure for shake-up in end-of-life care hdydhydhdydhdydyhdy

The guidelines, issued by the National Council for Palliative Care and the National End of Life Care Programme, includes recommendations such as ensuring each GP practice identifies people likely to die in the next 12 months, ensuring professionals know how to initiate conversations about end of life care and carry out advance care planning, appointing a clinical commissioning board member, and agreeing local priorities for services.

The move follows the publication of the report of the independent palliative care funding review, which revealed “stunning inequities” across the country in end of life care.

Seven out of 10 people say they would like to die at home but more than half continue to die in hospitals, often after unnecessary and expensive trips to Accident and Emergency departments, the charity said.

Four out of 10 patients had no medical need to be in hospital, according to the National Audit Office.