Quality of end of life care varies across the country, survey reveals

End of life care varies widely across the country according to statistics published by the Office of National Statistics today.

Bereaved people were asked for their experiences on the quality of care their loved ones received during the last three months of their life. The VOICES survey found:

• Health services in the South West were regularly rated in the top 20 per cent across all areas of care. Bournemouth and Poole and Dorset services were rated particularly highly.

• The North East and North West of the country were rated highly, particularly for quality of care, dignity, respect and support. Health services in the North of Tyne scored highly across all areas.

• The poorest ratings across all criteria were given to London health services, which were featured regularly in the bottom 20 per cent.

Ministers commissioned the Office of National Statistics to carry out the survey to address a big gap in the data on end of life care.

Care and Support Minister, Norman Lamb said: “All people have the right to the best quality of care at the end of their life, and we have made clear our commitment to achieving this.

“This survey shows that a wide variation in the quality of end of life care remains. Whilst there are some excellent examples of care, there is still more to do to ensure that standards are raised across the country.

“The results of this survey will be carefully studied by NHS and social care professionals, comparing the care they deliver with other similar areas and ensuring that they learn from the best.”

Dr Martin McShane, domain lead (long term conditions), NHS Commissioning Board said “We are serious about improving end of life care, and to do that we absolutely need to know how people experience end of life care services. The VOICES survey allows us to hear patients and families, and we should listen to them.

“This supplementary report provides further valuable analysis of the data from the VOICES survey. It complements the range of information that is now being generated to address the lack of data for end of life care, such as through locality profiles developed by the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network.

“In enabling benchmarking of regional services, this analysis will be of great value to those responsible for commissioning and delivering end of life care.”

For more information on the VOICES survey, visit: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health1/national-bereavement-survey–voices–by-pct-clusters/2011/stb-national-bereavement-survey–voices–by-pct-cluster–2011.html#tab-Key-findings