A range of organisations and individuals have given their support to A different ending, our review of end of life care in England.
Claire Henry, MBE, Chief Executive of National Council for Palliative Care & Dying Matters Coalition:
“We are glad to have helped the CQC with this report, which demonstrates the importance of making good end of life care priority for everyone. To do so, we need to understand people’s needs and priorities, and shouldn’t make assumptions about anyone. I hope this report brings about real change, because we are failing as a society if anyone suffers needlessly in their final weeks, days and hours.”
Tony Hunter, Chief Executive, the Social Care Institute for Excellence
‘A key message from this timely report is the importance of identifying as early as possible when someone is approaching the end of life. Then health and care staff can have those important, and sensitive, conversations about what the person would like to happen. This can make sure that people talk about what they want to happen and where they’d rather be at the end of life’.
Sue Hogston, Chief Nurse, Sue Ryder
“As a basic first step to closing the equality gap and improving access to palliative and end of life care for everyone, education of all health professionals to ensure that lack of understanding of people’s different needs at end of life is not a barrier preventing people receiving good care. We would urge that CCGs monitor who is accessing palliative and end of life care services and if their needs are being met. This should include all the key groups identified in this review.”
Tracey Bleakley, Chief Executive of national hospice care charity Hospice UK
“As providers, funders and leaders of end of life care services, hospices are uniquely placed to help end inequalities in end of life care in the UK. They have a well deserved reputation for providing high quality compassionate care and can employ their expertise and their strong links with their local communities to champion an equality-driven approach to end of life care.
“Many hospices have made considerable progress in expanding access to their services and ensuring that the needs of people across their diverse local communities are better supported, particularly for people with dementia, those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and homeless people. However, there is still much more to do. Hospice UK is committed to working with hospices and others to make sure that everyone gets access to the best available care and support at the end of their lives.”
Professor Bee Wee, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for End of Life Care
"International comparisons rate the UK as the best country in the world for end of life care, and a recent survey again found that three quarters of bereaved people rated the overall quality of care for their relative as good or better. But there is clearly more that can be done to ensure that all patients experience good quality care, regardless of their age, gender, race, condition or other factor.
“Working with national partners, we will use these findings to inform our ongoing work to reduce inequalities in access to care, and encourage CCGs to study the findings to understand and address variation in their local areas.”
Don Redding, Director of Policy at National Voices
“The last months and weeks of life are when health and care services spend most time and money on us. Yet we know there are many gaps in coordinating the numerous services that should be caring for people.
“Health and care services need specific strategies to make sure they reach communities that are currently not receiving high quality care at the end of their lives.
“We want to see person-centred coordinated care for everyone, which means services focusing on the things that matter most to people. There is no more important time to achieve this than near the end of life. The CQC should be commended for working to apply personalised coordinated care and for helping others to achieve it.”
Jane Mordue, interim Chair of Healthwatch England
“Poor end-of-life care denies people a dignified, peaceful death and causes suffering to them and their loved ones. What’s more, it comes at a huge financial cost to the NHS. Local Healthwatch have found lots of good examples of end of life care that fully involve patients and their families, and we know that many thousands of people are helped every year. Healthwatch Cornwall has gone even further, and has led the way in bringing local providers together to commit to an end-of-life Charter. The key now is to see best practice replicated across the country to ensure everyone experiences a dignified death.”
Ratna Dutt, Chief Executive of the Race Equality Foundation
“Black and minority ethnic people, their families and loved ones are still struggling to receive the quality of care and support they need in the last months, weeks and days of life. This report sets out some of those experiences as well as some of the ways that services can change to meet those needs and tackle inequality.”