Almost half of Scots over 50 don’t think they will get the care they need towards the end of their life
Almost half of Scots over 50 don’t think they will get the care they need towards the end of their life, a charity report has revealed.
Marie Curie described the lack of confidence it uncovered as “disturbing” and called on the next Scottish Government to ensure that everyone has the right to palliative care.
The charity’s survey, undertaken by YouGov, found 43% of those asked were not confident about getting adequate care in their final years.
Everyone should have the right to palliative care and be able to live as well as they can until they die
Six out of 10 respondents over 50 said they were concerned that there is not enough funding available and that they were worried about how health and social care services deal with the pressure of growing numbers of people with terminal illness.
The majority of those asked also said they were concerned that hospital and care home staff do not have the time to care for people with terminal illnesses.
Susan Lowes, Marie Curie policy and public affairs manager in Scotland, said: “This research paints a disturbing picture of overall confidence in end of life care in Scotland today.
“The Scottish Government’s commitment to publishing a new Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care in Scotland cannot come soon enough.
“The next Scottish Government must ensure that everyone who needs this care has access to it, at least by the end of the next parliament in 2021.
“Everyone should have the right to palliative care and be able to live as well as they can until they die.”
In Scotland, an estimated 40,000 of the 54,700 people who die each year need some palliative care. Currently, nearly 11,000 people in Scotland do not get the care they need at the end of their lives.
Projections show the problem will only get worse unless something is done with the number of people dying in Scotland due to increase by 7,000 each year by 2037.
Lowes added: “End of life care is at an important cross-road and today’s survey findings are a timely reminder to the government that the general public is also concerned about the funding of care for people with a terminal illness.”
