On the Quality of Death Index, United Kingdom bags the top rank on palliative care across 80 countries including Australia, United States and Sweden. The U.K. has been highlighted due to its wide-ranging national policies, large-scale integration of palliative care into its National Health Service and its strong hospice movement.
Through the use of official data and existing research for each country and interviews with the 120 palliative care experts around the world, the ranking has been based on 20 indicators across five categories. And three out of these five categories, the U.K. came out as first - the palliative and healthcare environment, affordability of care, and the quality of care.
"The UK is an acknowledged leader in palliative care. But there is more that the UK could do to stay at the forefront of palliative care standards," says Annie Pannelay, EIU Healthcare.
However, the Economist Intelligence Unit said that despite their high ranking position in the 2015 Quality of Death Index, there was still room for improvement.
Conversely, due to the aging population and growing of non-communicable disease like cancer, dementia and diabetes, EIU have warned an increase in demand in the U.K. in the future.
The report also stated that while the demand for palliative care was growing, there was also a good provision of their needs that shows the less gap between the two. Unlike the countries such as China, Greece, and Hungary, where the demand for services is high while the provision is relatively poor.
According to the 2015 Quality of Death Index, those wealthy nations having sophisticated healthcare services, their challenge is moving from a culture of curing illness to managing long-term conditions.
Relatively, Pannelay stressed that the U.K. has its comprehensive strategy toward the palliative care. They have made improvements like ensuring that people get to spend their final days in the place of their choice.
Pannelay added that the U.K. could do even more to stay at the top of palliative care standards, one of these is ironing out occasional problems with communication or symptom control. This issue will increasingly become important in the aging population.
Moreover, Simon Jones, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Marie Curie, warned that the required improvements must not diminish despite of their top position in palliative care.
