Nurse specialists help patients die at home

Over recent weeks you may have heard, seen or read about a call from Marie Curie Cancer Care for further funding to roll out its rapid-response scheme beyond the pilot areas and implement it nationally. This scheme is being backed publicly by Hugh Grant, whose mother was supported to die at home by Marie Curie nurses. Many patients who are terminally ill from a range of conditions are not given the opportunity to die at home, even if this is their preferred place of care. This may be due to an increasing symptom burden and lack of palliative care support for both patients and families, but the end result is the same: the patient dies in an acute hospital bed.