The Information Services Division Scotland has recently published a report which highlights the settings in which people died from cancer during 2009-2018. The data presented in this report could help the NHS and social care partners in Scotland to evaluate the palliative and end-of-life care needs across all care settings.
Key findings from the report are as follows:
- In 2009, 49 per cent of individuals who died from cancer did so in an NHS hospital. This figure reduced to 41 per cent in 2016 and has remained unchanged since then.
- From 2009 to 2016, the percentage of individuals who died at home increased from 25 per cent to 30 per cent. The figure has remained unchanged since then.
- Between 2014 and 2018, among urban dwellers, 30 per cent died at home and 21 per cent died in a hospice. Among rural dwellers, 34 per cent died at home and 15 per cent died in a hospice. This could be suggestive of a variation in hospice availability between urban and rural areas.
- Twenty-four per cent of individuals who resided in the least deprived areas died at a hospice compared with 18-20 per cent of those who resided in the other deprivation quintiles.
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