NHS end-of-life services in England face a massive challenge from the inexorable increase in the number of diagnosed dementia patients, according to a Department of Health advisory body.
Dementia prevalence will rise by 72% by 2030, warned a report by Dr Julia Verne for the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network.
It calculated that 59% of people who died from dementia over the past decade died in a care home, compared with just 16% of the general population.
Dr Verne, Director of the South West Public Health Observatory, said: “Providers and commissioners of end-of-life care need to look at the differences in where people with these conditions die – in particular the high proportion of deaths in care homes.”
Dr Linda Charles-Ozuzu, of the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network, said the pace of increase in dementia varied across the country. She said commissioners and providers must assess differences when planning development of future services to cope with local growth in patient numbers.
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