Lack of end-of-life support for patients

ONE in five hospital patients at the end of their lives could have died at home if there had been enough supports, according to a unique national audit published yesterday.

It found that hospital admissions through emergency departments negatively impact on patients who die in hospital and called for more planned admissions.

The Irish Hospice Foundation’s audit found significant differences in the assessments by doctors, nurses and relatives of care outcomes and the quality of deaths.