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End-of-life care and achieving preferences for place of death in England: results of a population-based survey using the VOICES-SF questionnaire

End-of-life care and achieving preferences for place of death in England: results of a population-based survey using the VOICES-SF questionnaire
End-of-life care and achieving preferences for place of death in England: results of a population-based survey using the VOICES-SF questionnaire
Background/aim: Health policy places emphasis on enabling patients to die in their place of choice, and increasing the proportion of home deaths. In this article, we seek to explore reported preferences for place of death and experiences of care in a population-based sample of deaths from all causes.

Design: Self-completion post-bereavement survey.

Setting/Participants: Census of deaths registered in two health districts between October 2009 and April 2010. Views of Informal Carers – Evaluation of Services Short Form was sent to each informant (n = 1422; usually bereaved relative) 6–12 months post-bereavement.

Results: Response was 33%. In all, 35.7% of respondents reported that the deceased said where they wanted to die, and 49.3% of these were reported to achieve this. Whilist 73.9% of those who were reported to have a preference cited home as the preferred place, only 13.3% of the sample died at home. Cancer patients were more likely to be reported to achieve preferences than patients with other conditions (p < .01). Being reported to have a record of preferences for place of death increased the likelihood of dying at home (odds ratio = 22.10). When rating care in the last 2 days, respondents were more likely to rate ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ for nursing care (p < .01), relief of pain (p < .01) and other symptoms (p < .01), emotional support (p < .01) and privacy of patient’s environment (p < .01) if their relative died in their preferred place.

Conclusions: More work is needed to encourage people to talk about their preferences at the end of life: this should not be restricted to those known to be dying. Increasing knowledge and achievement of preferences for place of death may also improve end-of-life care.
0269-2163
1-11
Hunt, Katherine J.
5eab8123-1157-4d4e-a7d9-5fd817218c6e
Shlomo, Natalie
e749febc-b7b9-4017-be48-96d59dd03215
Addington-Hall, Julia
87560cc4-7562-4f9b-b908-81f3b603fdd8
Hunt, Katherine J.
5eab8123-1157-4d4e-a7d9-5fd817218c6e
Shlomo, Natalie
e749febc-b7b9-4017-be48-96d59dd03215
Addington-Hall, Julia
87560cc4-7562-4f9b-b908-81f3b603fdd8

Hunt, Katherine J., Shlomo, Natalie and Addington-Hall, Julia (2013) End-of-life care and achieving preferences for place of death in England: results of a population-based survey using the VOICES-SF questionnaire. Palliative Medicine, 1-11. (doi:10.1177/0269216313512012). (PMID:24292157)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background/aim: Health policy places emphasis on enabling patients to die in their place of choice, and increasing the proportion of home deaths. In this article, we seek to explore reported preferences for place of death and experiences of care in a population-based sample of deaths from all causes.

Design: Self-completion post-bereavement survey.

Setting/Participants: Census of deaths registered in two health districts between October 2009 and April 2010. Views of Informal Carers – Evaluation of Services Short Form was sent to each informant (n = 1422; usually bereaved relative) 6–12 months post-bereavement.

Results: Response was 33%. In all, 35.7% of respondents reported that the deceased said where they wanted to die, and 49.3% of these were reported to achieve this. Whilist 73.9% of those who were reported to have a preference cited home as the preferred place, only 13.3% of the sample died at home. Cancer patients were more likely to be reported to achieve preferences than patients with other conditions (p < .01). Being reported to have a record of preferences for place of death increased the likelihood of dying at home (odds ratio = 22.10). When rating care in the last 2 days, respondents were more likely to rate ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ for nursing care (p < .01), relief of pain (p < .01) and other symptoms (p < .01), emotional support (p < .01) and privacy of patient’s environment (p < .01) if their relative died in their preferred place.

Conclusions: More work is needed to encourage people to talk about their preferences at the end of life: this should not be restricted to those known to be dying. Increasing knowledge and achievement of preferences for place of death may also improve end-of-life care.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 29 November 2013
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 361479
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/361479
ISSN: 0269-2163
PURE UUID: bf7c6246-dc33-4b7b-bb96-8f74325c0fa9
ORCID for Katherine J. Hunt: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6173-7319

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Date deposited: 23 Jan 2014 14:35
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:36

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Author: Natalie Shlomo

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