Dr Linda Patterson, RCP clinical vice-president, welcomed the Alzheimer’s Society report My life until the end: dying well with dementia, launched today. She said:
As rising numbers of older people with dementia are dying in hospitals and care homes instead of at home, it is even more important that doctors and other members of the healthcare team are trained to treat patients with dignity, communicate fully with carers and relatives, and support decision making on end-of-life issues.
For further information, please contact Hannah Bristow, Clinical Standards communications officer, on +44 (0)20 3075 1447 / 07584 303 784 or email Hannah.Bristow@rcplondon.ac.uk
The Patients and Compassion workstream of the RCP’s Future Hospital Commission will consider the barriers to providing compassionate and kind care, and how they can be overcome, and will also ask how we improve the recognition of the dying patient, and communicate about the end of life, including preferred place of death.