Introduction

This RLO focuses on the care of frail older people who die on acute hospital wards, it is particularly concerned with those who die with dementia.

It relates directly to the Core Competences of End of Life Care developed to support the End of Life Care Strategy.

This is the first of two RLOs about hospital as a place of death. It presents background information and introduces some of the issues to be considered in the second RLO: Every Death is Different.

The second RLO will focus on case studies and material derived directly from the findings of a research project funded by the Alzheimer’s Society. This study explored the care of older patients dying on acute hospital wards, and whether patients with dementia were cared for any differently from those without dementia.

By the end of RLO1 you will have:

1. Considered how population ageing is changing the experience of death and dying, and how this impacts on the cost and organisation of end of life care.
2. Gained an understanding of some of the issues that underpin current debates about hospital as a place of death.
3. Begun to consider what is meant by the notion of the “good death”.
4. Explored some of the challenges involved in providing good end of life care in the acute hospital environment, especially for patients affected by dementia.

By the end of RLO2 you will have:

1. Gained an awareness of care interventions that can support a good death in hospital.
2. Applied these insights to case studies based on recent research.