Concern over care given to terminally ill

Survey finds a quarter of Scots lack confidence in patients’ treatment

One in four Scots believe a relative or close friend with a terminal illness did not get the care they need, a survey has found.

The study, carried out for charity Marie Curie, also reported that nearly a third of Scots (29%) are not confident they would receive the necessary care if they were diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The top reasons for this lack of confidence are rising rates of people having more than one terminal condition (61%) and a lack of health service funding (60%).

The third most common reason was the belief there are higher numbers of terminally-ill people, meaning the health services finds it harder to cope (58%), followed by those who felt that there is less availability of high-quality care at home (55%).

A total of 305 respondents to the YouGov survey of 1,028 Scottish adults carried out between November 7-9 said they had experience of either themselves, a relative or close friend with a terminal illness in the past three years, and of this group 25% said they did not believe the care needed was given.

However, more than half (54%) of all those surveyed believe they would get better quality care in Scotland than in England.

Susan Lowes, Marie Curie policy and public affairs manager Scotland, said: “We continue to hear that terminally-ill people don’t get the care they need or it comes too late.

“If care is not taking into account the person’s needs and their preferences, then this could explain why.

“By involving patients and families in the decisions that affect end-of-life care, we can improve confidence, improve knowledge of all the options open to them, help avoid unnecessary treatment and reduce emergency emissions.”

She added that the charity created a leaflet, entitled You Matter, which is aimed at encouraging care focused on the individual.