Medical, Nursing and Social Care: Insufficient hospice care
Insufficient hospice care
It is now NHS policy that everyone with a life-threatening illness should have access to appropriate palliative care services, but almost all patients admitted to hospice care in the UK have a diagnosis of cancer. This is partly because of funding (which relies strongly on cancer charities), partly because less is known about the needs of non-cancer patients, and partly because it can be very hard to estimate how long non-cancer patients are likely to live.
Even those with cancer may find it hard to obtain a bed in a hospice when it is needed. One woman we talked to, who had breast cancer, spent a month in a hospice. She went home and assumed that she would be able to pick up the phone and go back to the hospice if she needed to, but was disappointed to find that this was not so. She said that if she became very ill she might be offered a palliative care bed at the local hospital, but not a bed in the hospice.
Patients who don't have cancer find it even harder to find a bed in a hospice. Some of the people we talked to had distressing symptoms and believed they would benefit from hospice care. A woman with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung disease) explained why she would like to have the opportunity to enter a hospice or a similar place when the need arose.
Another woman, who also had lung disease, explained why she would like to have the option of hospice care. She wanted to die with dignity, in a peaceful setting, with help and support, and she wanted good pain control. She also wanted pastoral care to prepare for her death, and support for her teenage children. She was angry about inequalities in funding and her inability to find a bed in a hospice.
Last reviewed May 2010.
