Read the summary of Telling It Like It Is. The latest edition – Experiences of Older People at End of Life – is based on the findings of the National End of Life Survey, which was Ireland’s first nationwide survey that asked bereaved relatives and friends about the care their loved ones and friends received at the end of life.
Telling It Like It Is: Experiences of Older People at End of Life 2025
The National End of Life Survey 2024 , was Ireland’s Ёrst nationwide survey that asked bereaved relatives and friends about the care provided to their loved one in their last months and days of life. This Telling It Like It Is 2025 report, produced by The Alliance of Age Sector NGOs, draws on Ёndings from this survey, to describe critical areas of importance to older people, and their families, facing death and bereavement. People aged 65 and over accounted for 83% of all deaths in Ireland in 2024. As our older population rapidly expands over the coming years, the Ёndings in this report have important implications for future planning, practice and policy.
Key Themes in the Results
Communication at End of Life
The majority of older people were not told that they were likely to die. Older people and their loved ones have a right to be kept fully informed at end of life. Knowing what to expect when their loved one is dying is important to people. 72% of relative and friends who were not told what to expect, said that a conversation would have been helpful.
Access to Key People and Timely Help
Care in the Community
Receiving help from healthcare staff as soon as it was needed was one of the most inЂuential factors that impacted on the rating of perceptions of overall quality of care. One signiЁcant area that was identiЁed was the availability of GPs to visit older people out of hours which varied according to the person’s county of residence.
Essential supports and services must be available to older people in the community at end of life. It was found that age and geographic location had an impact on access to key healthcare professionals for care at home with those aged over 80 years less supported.
Bereavement Support Bereaved relatives that did not receive practical information about what to do following their loved one’s death, rated their care experience signiЁcantly lower. Also healthcare staff engaging with them in a sensitive manner, following their loved ones death, had a signiЁcant inЂuence on their perceptions of the overall quality of care they received.
Telling It Like It Is: Experiences of Older People at End of Life 2025
Establish an Independent Commissioner for Ageing and Older People Underpinning these recommendations from the Telling It Like It Is report is the call for the establishment of an Independent Commissioner for Ageing and Older People, who would account directly to the Oireachtas, with a mandate to promote and protect the interests and wellbeing of all older people.
Recommendations
Awareness Promote greater awareness and access to information, resources and supports that empowers older people as they approach end of life. Research Repeat the National End of Life Survey to identify and understand important trends in older people’s end-of-life experiences over time. Support Guarantee older people access to key supports which are accessible regardless of their location, Ёnances, care setting or diagnosis. Training Ensure all those interacting with older people are provided with training and resources to support them to engage in honest conversations that enable older people to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.
This report outlines what older people, and their families, need and want at this most critical time: • People need support from healthcare professionals to navigate the important conversations that happen when an older person is nearing end of life. • Older people must be kept informed and involved in their care and families want to know what to expect as end of life approaches. • For every death, up to 10 people are impacted, adults and children. End-of-life care must also consider and include the impact on those who are left to grieve . The Alliance will use these Ёndings to advocate for improvements in the delivery of end-of-life and bereavement care informed by these experiences.
The Alliance of Age Sector NGO’s represents the collective thinking of eight signiЁcant NGOs working in the age sector. Together, we collaborate to seek action on speciЁc issues that make older people’s lives unnecessarily difЁcult. We work together to ensure Ireland becomes a better place in which to grow older.
Scan for more information and to download the report
The work of the Alliance of Age Sector NGOs is made possible thanks to funding provided by Community Foundation Ireland.
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