UK is the best place in the world to die: End-of –life care index
Britain has topped the survey of 80 countries in quality of death and quality of palliative care with Australia and New Zealand second and third respectively., followed by Ireland and Belgium.. Taiwan is sixth ahead of US in ninth , with China and India is ranked 67th and 71st respectively. Integration of palliative care into NHS and strong hospice awareness are reasons for UK ranking first in study of 80 countries. Despite less well of countries like Mongolia and Panama ranked 28th and 31st on the index. China’s huge population and the impact of the one-chiled policy often leaving individuals caring for two parents and four grandparents will lead to even more demand for outside resources to provide much needed support.
Despite the UK’s top ranking, the study ‘s authors say it is “still not providing adequate services for every citizen”, including poor communication and system control inadequate out-of-hours services and delays in diagnosis and referrals for treatment.
However, Kerala also called “God’s Own Country” has moved far ahead in palliative care in India, with its approach fine tuned over the years by policymakers, health experts and civil society activists.
Kerala’s effort in Palliative care has been given a boost when Singapore-base Lien Foundation praised the state’s provision of Palliative care for patients with serious illness, study recently.
While India ranks at the bottom of the index in overall score and performs badly on many indicators, Kerala if measured on the same points would reverse the trend” said the quality of death Ranking end-of-life care across the world’ report.
Kerala which has excellent infrastructure, teamwork and basic health care, provides two-thirds of India’s palliative care services with only three percent of India’s population. It’s unique system revolves around the Neighbourhood Network in Palliative care project co-founded by Suresh Kumar, whose aim of improving both accessibility and quality of end-of-life.
The Quality of Death Index, commissioned by the Lien Foundation, a Singaporean Philanthropic organization, based on qualitative and quantitative indicators and took in interviews with more than 120 Palliative care experts from around the world.