Dying need ‘free social care’ say cancer campaigners

Posted 06/07/2014

Dying need ‘free social care’ say cancer campaigners

A report issued by Macmillan Cancer Support says that providing free social care could save the NHS £69m a year on the care of cancer patients alone. Its analysis is based on a review of patient surveys, official NHS spending data and interviews with senior decision-makers.

Social care is currently means-tested, but ministers are considering providing it to everyone at the end of life. Around half of the population ends up dying in hospital despite eight in 10 saying they would prefer to die at home. Macmillan’s analysis said this equated to about 180,000 people spending their last days in hospital against their wishes. The cost to the NHS of this was estimated to be £685m a year, according to Macmillan. If those patients were cared for in the community via a combination of community NHS services and social care, the cost would be £340m, a saving of £345m.

Of those 180,000 patients, about 36,000 are cancer patients. This would equate to a saving of £69m if they were able to die at home, Macmillan said.

A Department of Health representative has said: “We want to make sure that people nearing the end of their lives can choose where to spend their last days and have more of a say on how they are cared for”.

Julie Crossley, a medical injury lawyer at Ashtons Legal, comments: “This is a total waste of precious NHS funding and at a time when we are constantly advised that cuts need to be made. It is an area where savings could be made and more importantly give the patients the choice of where they wish to be as their life ends.”