The 2007 palliative care statistics for children and young people identify a high level of social care need:

1.5 Need for social care
Each of the conditions in the list of causes of death likely to have required palliative care was assigned to one of two categories: those requiring access to health services only and those requiring access to social services. Using the mortality data for 2005, 63% of deaths in the 0-19 age group from causes likely to have required palliative care had a need for access to social care. This means that of the estimated 18,000 children and young people with palliative care needs, 11,000 are estimated to have a need for social care.

I wonder what the requirements are for adult social care need? If they are as high (why wouldn’t they be?) perhaps we need a whole lot more social care provision targeted at dying people, and social care issues need to be more strongly represented in palliative care services.

Cochrane, H., Liyanage, S. and Nantambi, R. (2007) Palliative Care Statistics for Children and Young Adults: Health and Care Partnerships Analysis. London: Department of Health.

Because I’ve been away on holiday and this blog is not published outside the Hospice yet, I have not been posting daily, but now I’m posting the backlog.

Pics of the St Christopher’s building works, in solidarity with colleagues who are working in difficult conditions, so that things can be better in the future. Privilege (only staff may go there, but is it really a privildege – see the next post with a photo).