Marie Curie - Better end of life report (April 2021)

Summary

The Better End of Life programme is a collaboration between Marie Curie, King's College London Cicely Saunders Institute, Hull York Medical School, the University of Hull and the University of Cambridge. It's first research report outlines key findings of the programme relating to the experience of death and dying during 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. This interactive webpage presents graphics which highlight the key findings of the research.

Content

Key findings

• Many more people died in 2020 than usual, with many experiencing tremendous hardships at the end of life.
• The place where people died changed, with many more dying at home.
• Palliative and end of life care services have been a vital part of the pandemic emergency response, switching their services into delivery in community settings.
• Care was compromised by shortages of essential PPE, medicines and staff – these were made worse by hospices not being seen as 'frontline NHS'.