End of life care ‘not working’ for dying people or their families, say campaigners

End of life charity Marie Curie says that spending so much money on hospital care for terminal patients who would rather die in hospice care or at home is ‘robbing’ them of ‘the chance to remain where they want to be in the final chapter of their life’. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

The UK spends £11.7bn on people’s health in the last year of their life, largely on hospital care even though most would rather die at home or in a hospice.

The stark disparity is “robbing many tens of thousands of dying people of the chance to remain where they want to be in the final chapter of their life”, according to Marie Curie. A report from the charity has revealed that, in all, Britain spends £22bn a year on health care, social care and welfare benefits for people who will be dead within 12 months.