74% want to die at home, but will instead die in hospital

Three in four people in Ireland want to die at home, but despite their wishes, most will die in a hospital.

The Irish Hospice Foundation survey shows 74% of people want to die at home  - 67% had expressed the same wish in an IHF survey 10 years ago.

The latest survey shows that of those who lost someone close to them in the last two years, 38% died in a hospital, 26% at home, 12% in nursing/residential home, and 11% in a hospice.

However, there has been no change in the last decade as to what is important to people in the last days of life — 82% want to be surrounded by loved ones while 70% want to be free from pain and have the condition medically managed.

IHF chief executive Sharon Foley said: “Death is everybody’s business. 30,000 people die in Ireland every year, an average of 80 people a day.”

She said they needed to continue to work to ensure that services were in place so people could make the choice to die at home.

The poll of almost 900 adults found that:

-57% say there is not enough discussion on death and dying in Ireland;

-42% say there is either “much” or “urgent” room for improvement in end of life care;

-53% have experienced the death of a loved one in the last two years;

-39% have not given any thought to making a will.

For those who have recently experienced the death of someone close, end-of-life care ratings were more positive: Only 14% said that there was much or urgent need for improvement.

Almost four out of 10 (38%) said they were unsure that their preferred location for their final stages of life would be available to them. Some 15% felt it wouldn’t be, but 46% said they were confident their preferences would be available to them.

Just under of quarter (23%) people said they were “completely comfortable” discussing death.