About 20 terminally ill people in UK die in unrelieved pain each day, research finds

An estimated 20 terminally ill people in the UK die in unrelieved pain each day, according to a study by the independent Office of Health Economics (OHE).

According to its research, to be presented to MPs on Tuesday, one in four people receiving palliative care in England have “unmet pain needs”. The OHE said it used “the most conservative of estimates [suggesting] the true number is likely to be much larger”.

It calculated that, even with the “highest possible standards of hospice-level palliative care”, more than 7,300 people across the UK died with unrelieved pain in the last three months of their lives in 2023. In 2019, the comparable figure was nearly 6,400 people a year – a 15% increase over four years.

It also said that fewer than 5% of terminally ill people in England who needed hospice care in 2023 received it.

The OHE’s findings will feed into an intensifying debate over the legalisation of assisted dying ahead of a historic vote by MPs on Friday. 

The OHE said that irrespective of the outcome of Friday’s vote, investment in high-quality end-of-life care should be a “crucial component of the conversation around assisted dying”.

Prof Graham Cookson, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “Our research finds that even assuming the highest standards of care, there remains a group for whom no amount of pain relief will ease their suffering in the last few months of their life.

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Source: The Guardian, 25 November 2024