TOO MANY people are dying in hospital because they fear leaving loved ones with bills if they receive their care at home, MPs have warned.

An influential parliamentary committee is calling for free “social care” for all terminallyill patients. Personal care provided at home via social services is currently means-tested and is only free for those with assets of less than £23,500.

In a report published today, End of Life Care, the Commons health committee calls for an overhaul of the system.

MPs said too many patients who wanted to die in their own homes surrounded by loved ones felt compelled to spend their dying days in hospital where care is free, so that bereaved families were not left facing large bills.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, Conservative chairman of the committee, said the system was “wrong” and that there was a “strong humanitarian case” to make changes.

“We are calling on the next government to introduce free social care so that no one dies in hospital for lack of social care at home,” she said.

More than half of deaths occur in hospital, despite research showing that most people would prefer to die at home or in a hospice.

DrWollaston said the wishes of the dying were too often overruled because of a shortage of district and community nurses, bureaucratic wrangles, and the fears of the terminally ill about the costs of receiving social care.

The MP and former GP said the current system meant it was difficult for patients’ last wishes to be respected.

“Because social care is usually means-tested that will be off-putting. They worry about the impact of that on their families and the financial burden on their family.”

Even when a patient made their wish to die at home clear, they could be left to die in hospital amid lengthy and bureaucratic assessments.

Dr Fran Woodard, director for England at Macmillan Cancer Support, the charity, backed the calls.

She said: “We know that the majority of people with cancer would prefer to die at home, but many are currently unable to do so – this unacceptable situation needs to urgently change.”

Free social care would reduce the number of unnecessary hospital admissions, easing the strain on overcrowded hospitals, she said.

Jonathan Ellis, director of policy at Hospice UK, urged the Government to “act and end the shameful situation where dying people are forced to pay for their social care needs.”

The Sunday Telegraph’s Justice for the Elderly campaign is also fighting to ensure better standards of elderly care.

Norman Lamb, care and support minister, last night said: “We are looking carefully at the costs and benefits of this policy, but we know that thanks to the hard work of health and care staff and carers, many people already receive good end-of-life care.”

The committee of MPs also expressed concern about whether hospitals were still operating the discredited “Liverpool Care Pathway” which was supposed to have been abolished last year.

The system involves withdrawal of life-saving treatment and sedation and can mean nutrition and fluids are withdrawn. It was introduced in an attempt to ensure dying patients were left comfortable, but it was scrapped last year amid fears it had become a “tickbox” approach to hasten patients’ deaths.

Hospitals are advised to offer more individual care, following a set of national principles. But the inquiry heard concerns that some hospitals had merely scrapped the name of the pathway, and carried on with the practices.

Evidence from the Royal College of Nursing said: “RCN members working in the community report that they have not seen a significant difference in the way care is being delivered following the withdrawal of the Liverpool Care Pathway.”

DrWollaston said that in too many cases, the system of care had become “a death pathway” which was used as a “tickbox exercise” without consultation with the dying or their families.

The report called for better care for patients with conditions other than cancer, saying their needs were not given enough attention.

Steve Ford, chief executive at Parkinson’s UK, said: “The system as it stands is culturally in the dark ages” in its capacity to even assess dying patients with other conditions.