Report: Towards a social model of end-of-life care

In developed and developing countries, with very few national exceptions, people are living longer and dying slower through degenerative rather than infectious disease.

This paper addresses the challenge that this change poses for the provision of end-of-life (EOL) services, by which is meant the formal (i.e. paid) care and support for people who are approaching death. Current models of EOL care have originated from the hospice and palliative care movement whose expertise, developed largely with cancer patients, is now being looked to for guidance in developing EOL practice for non-cancer dying patients.

This paper challenges the social work profession to consider whether the hospice and palliative care model needs to be rethought and if more informal support from family, friends and community should be mobilised.

Author(s): Brown, Louise; Walter, Tony
Series: British Journal of Social Work
Year: 2014
ISSN: 1468-263X
Volume: vol. 44
Pages: p. 2375-2390