End of life care 'is about more than where you die'

A STRATEGY to improve end of life care should not focus solely on place of death, a health board member has warned.

NHS Lothian has recently rubber stamped its Living and Dying Well in Lothian document, which is aimed at improving the quality of palliative care across the area.

As part of that, bosses want to cut the number of people who die in hospital and instead make it easier for a patient to spend their final days in either their own home or another more comfortable setting.

While the move has been welcomed, Dr Alison Tierney said a wider view had to be taken.

She told fellow health board members: "It isn't the place of death that is vital but to reduce the number of admissions and time spent in hospital in the last year of life.

"It would be helpful to add because the actual place of death at the last moment of life is less important than the overall quality of life running up to it."

Lothian is facing a huge rise in the number of elderly people over the next few years, which is expected to put a strain on the health service.

Dementia is among the illnesses expected to become much more prevalent and, in addition, more people are living longer with complex health conditions which were previously untreatable.