Caring about dying

Palliative care and support for the terminally ill

Death is an inevitability that we will all face. Most of us can consign it to the distant future. However, for people confronting terminal illness, death becomes a stark, imminent reality and the manner of dying becomes an important concern.

NPC’s report, Caring about dying, focuses on the care, compassion and services needed during the final months of people’s lives to let them live as fully and actively as possible.

Did you know?

  • Over half of the UK population would prefer to die at home, yet only one fifth of people do.
  • It costs just £325 per night to care for a dying patient and their loved ones in a hospice or at home.

The report highlights areas that donors could consider supporting, including:

  • helping to improve non-medical aspects of care, such as counselling, complementary therapies and practical support for carers
  • funding facilities for children and especially teenagers, who are often caught in the tricky space between children and adults’ services, and
  • tackling the under-funding of palliative care research.

 We don’t want to die but it will happen. A good death can take away a lot of the fear of death. You want 5 star treatment when you only have a week left.

Iona Joy, report author

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