Findings of the National End of Life Survey | 2023
Bereaved people’s experiences of care and support The survey included nine questions that asked about the care and support provided to bereaved people themselves. The highest-scoring question in this section related to sensitivity from healthcare staff, with 84% of participants saying that healthcare staff always engaged with them in a sensitive manner after their relative or friend died. The lowest-scoring question related to support to talk to children or young adults, with 29% of participants saying that healthcare staff did not provide enough help and support to talk to children or young adults about their relative or friend’s illness. 7 Conclusions The findings of the first National End of Life Survey provide valuable insights into the care journeys of those who received end-of-life care during the sample period. The people who died during this period typically received care in multiple and varied settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and in their homes. It was clear that every end-of-life care journey is unique. Most participants had confidence and trust in healthcare staff and felt that their relative or friend was always treated with respect, dignity, kindness and compassion. However, some participants said that their relative or friend’s care was not as well coordinated as it should have been, and that they did not always receive help from healthcare staff as soon as they needed it. Of the settings covered in the survey, hospitals were the most common place of death. Hospices received the most positive ratings across all survey questions. What happens next? The HSE will use the survey findings to inform the development of quality improvement plans at national and local levels. These quality improvement plans will describe the steps that the HSE will take to address the issues highlighted by participants in the survey. Quality improvement plans will be available on www.yourexperience.ie in April 2024. Private and voluntary end-of-life care providers can use the survey results to develop plans on how they will respond to the findings. The National Care Experience Programme is engaging with organisations that represent private and voluntary providers to support them to understand and use the findings of the survey. The Department of Health will use the information gathered to inform the development of policy in relation to end-of-life care. The findings of the survey will inform the Irish Hospice Foundation’s work supporting those in receipt of end-of-life care and their families. Finally, the findings of the survey will inform national standards and HIQA’s monitoring and regulation of the services included in this survey.
7 It is important to note that 56% of respondents (2,412) to this question said that they did not need help with this, or they did not have any contact with healthcare staff.
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