Dying Matters Awareness Week - a chance to talk about death

Every year, people around the UK use Dying Matters Awareness Week (May 6 to 12) to encourage all communities to get talking about death in whatever way, shape or form works for them.

This year’s theme, ‘The way we talk about Dying Matters’, focuses on the language that we use, and conversations we have, around death and dying – specifically between healthcare professionals and patients, their carers and their families.

In the UK:

• 30 per cent of inpatients are in the last 12 months of life
• 90 per cent of people die from a previously diagnosed condition
• 80 per cent of people would choose to die at home but only 45 per cent actually do
• Most patients have one unplanned admission in their last year of life
• Recognising that a patient is probably dying is perhaps the most important factor in enabling a good death.

Honest, timely conversations about death and dying are essential to good end of life care.

Yet all too often barriers, including lack of confidence, taboos around discussing death, and confusion about who should be having these conversations mean patients, carers and families may not understand what is happening, or get all the information and support they need.

Ruth O’Dowd, consultant anaesthetist at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust and medical lead for end of life care, said: “How many of us will die a good death – pain free, in a place of our choosing, having accomplished our last great ambitions, put our affairs in order and surrounded by those we love?

Ruth O'Dowd of North Cumbria Integrated Care (Image: NCIC)

“Planning a good death can take time, and careful preparation.

"It’s only achieved through honest conversations about the fact that life’s one great certainty is drawing close.

“The General Medical Council define end of life as when a patient is likely to die within the next 12 months. For some this will mean death is imminent, for others it will mean that their condition is likely to deteriorate or reach crisis within the 12-month timeframe.

“Early conversations about the likelihood of death are possible - in the UK 90 per cent of people die from a previously diagnosed condition.

“But sadly, many patients do not benefit from an honest conversation at all, or not until it is too late to make choices about the nature of their death.

"Surveys show that more than three quarters of people in England said that they would want to know if they had less than a year to live, but many doctors concede that they find these conversations difficult.

“This Dying Matters Awareness Week, talk about having those end of life conversations, whether with healthcare professionals – or your families, friends and colleagues.”