The Better End of Life Report 2022
People die at all times of the day and night, seven days a week. So why are end of life care services so difficult to access at home outside of Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm?
The problem: poor access to care at home out-of-hours
The hours outside of Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, including weekends and bank holidays, make up 75% of the time in every week. So it's no surprise that many people with a terminal illness need care urgently in this "out-of-hours" period.
But they're struggling to access this essential out-of-hours care. Lots of people can't get the care they need at home in a crisis, especially if they live in a deprived area.
This can leave people with no option but to go to A&E departments. And it means they aren't getting the good end of life experience that we all hope for.
We only had a phone number for office hours, which is no good at 1 o'clock in the morning. Who do you phone?
Why we need a palliative care advice line in every area
In a crisis people need to get help quickly and easily.
That's why a designated advice phone line that provides access to palliative care services 24/7 should be available in every part of the UK. This phone line would do more than NHS 111 or NHS 24: it would offer specialist care and guidance for people approaching the end of life and their carers.
Services like this are already available in some parts of the UK. In these areas more people are getting the care they need at home and fewer end up going to A&E or being admitted to hospital.
Better palliative care, including out-of-hours, can play a key role in reducing pressures on emergency services. This change would improve people's quality of life and protect precious NHS resource.
This is just one of the actions needed to improve out-of-hours care. Read more in our policy recommendations.
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