MORE than one thousand cancer patients in Hampshire are denied their last wish to die at home every year, according to new figures.

Macmillan Cancer Support has found that around 1,175 people across the county die in hospital each year despite their final wish to die in the comfort of their own home.

Not only has the survey revealed the failure to meet these dying wishes, but also that those who are forced to die in hospital often receive sub-par care compared to what they would have got at home.

Now the charity is launching a new campaign to improve the choice for cancer patients at the end of their life, as well as calling on the Government to introduce free social care for everyone during the last weeks of their life.

The heartbreaking figures were revealed after bereaved relations and carers took part in a national survey.

It found that of those who died at home, 63 per cent rated the overall quality of care received as excellent or outstanding, compared to only 37 per cent of those who died in hospital.

It was also reported that 41 per cent of people with terminal cancer were not always treated with dignity and respect by hospital doctors during their last hospital admission.

The charity has already found that the vast majority of health professionals, 96 per cent, agree that access to social care services is crucial for keeping people out of hospital.

However, two years after the Palliative Care Funding Review (PCFR), recommended that social care should be free for those at the end of life, thousands of cancer patients are still spending their last remaining days and hours on a hospital ward.

With the launch of its new report, Time to Choose, which sets out new recommendations for improving choice at end of life for cancer patients, Macmillan wants to see free social care for everyone before the end of this Parliament in 2015.

Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “As the Government makes up its mind about whether to fund and implement free social care at the end of life, thousands of people with terminal cancer are being left to die in hospital beds against their wishes.

“This is putting an unnecessary strain on our accident and emergency departments because people are not getting access to social care for themselves or for their carers which would enable them to be cared for in the comfort of their own home.

“It’s simply not good enough to pay lip service to this issue – we need to see action. If the Government wants the NHS to deliver world-class care at the end of life in the UK, it needs to start by giving people a real choice about where they die.”

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