Marie Curie calls for urgent action to improve palliative and end of life care

Marie Curie has published a report calling for urgent action to ensure everyone affected by dying, death and bereavement receives the best possible care and support. The Time to Care report – the final report from the Marie Curie Better End of Life programme – is based on a survey of 1,179 people. It is the largest nationally representative post-bereavement survey in the UK since the 2015 VOICES survey.

In the foreword of the report, Marie Curie chief executive Matthew Reed says it is a "critical time" for action to improve palliative and end of life care. "The findings from this nationally representative survey in England and Wales demonstrate the extent to which people are dying without access to the services and support they and their unpaid carers need," he said. "In an increasingly over-stretched health and care system, despite their best efforts, many doctors and nurses simply do not have the time to provide the care they know their patients need."

Key findings

• Much responsibility for care fell on informal carers who often felt unprepared and unsupported. 
• Around half of people who died had contact with specialist palliative care teams.
• People who died from cancer were more likely to have contact with specialist care teams while older people were less likely to.
• Respondents felt staff across health and social care settings did not have enough time to provide care for dying people.
• Almost half of those surveyed were unhappy with some aspects of the care the person who died received.
• Recognition of palliative care needs was often considered to be too late.
• Almost a third of respondents said health and care professionals had not discussed with them that their relative might die.

Read the full research report via the Marie Curie website here.