Our response to new research on Advance Care Planning

11 December 2019
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Commenting on a new study published in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care - which highlights that planning for future care may be linked to longer survival in terminally ill patients - Anita Hayes, Head of Learning and Workforce at Hospice UK, the national hospice and end of life care charity, said:

“The results of this new study are very encouraging in highlighting how conversations about terminally ill people’s preferences for their end of life care could be linked to longer survival.

“When terminally ill people have conversations about their preferences and wishes for care at the end of life early on this can have many positive benefits. It can support more informed decision-making about people’s future care, help reduce anxiety and may reduce unwanted medical treatments. This means that a terminally ill person receives supportive care, based on their needs rather than cure, with a focus on improving their quality of life and what matters most to them when time is limited.

“Doctors and nurses can face challenges in initiating advance care planning conversations with terminally ill people, often due to a lack of time or confidence in raising these issues but it is so important that these conversations happen. Through its Dying Matters campaign Hospice UK encourages the public and also healthcare professionals to talk more openly about dying and to make plans for the end of life and have ongoing discussions about these”.

Notes to editors

  • Hospice UK is the national charity for hospice and end of life care. It works to ensure all adults and children living with a terminal or life-shortening illness receive the care and support they need, when they need it.
  • Hospice UK supports more than 200 hospices across the UK which care for over 200,000 adults and children every year
  • For further information about hospice care visit our website www.hospiceuk.org or follow us on Twitter @hospiceuk
  • Get all the latest news from the hospice and palliative care sector, as well as patient stories, on ehospice UK at: www.ehospice.com/uk