UK study finds elderly are not aware of their end-of-life options

Findings in the End of Life Choices report – which has been welcomed bystaff at a Bury St Edmunds hospice – showed many pensioners did notknow what palliative care was and had never heard of a living will.  It also found two-thirds of people would want some or all of their care to be at home if they were terminally ill.  Duringthe study, which was carried out on behalf of Age Concern Suffolk,elderly people across the region were asked what choices they wouldmake when faced with a life-threatening condition.  But the findings showed the majority of people had no idea what options would be open to them.  Ofthe 84 people questioned, 73 per cent did not know about palliativecare, which is offered to people with fatal illnesses, and 94 per centknew nothing about advance directives, known as living wills.  Thesedirectives allow people to decide whether they would refuse medicaltreatment and are only used when they are no longer mentally capable ofmaking a decision.
Questions for the study were put together by staff at St Nicholas’ Hospice, in Bury, alongside other groups.

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