ABSTRACT
Because people are living longer, the incidence of elderly people living with a life-limiting illness is increasing. Older people are often not listened to as individuals, and their experiences of care range from the very good to the very bad. The type of care that they receive is often rather a lottery, and can vary according to their age and where they are living. In addition, for many elderly people, the last months and years of life can involve a lot of ups and downs, with a general overall deterioration that accompanies old age, interspersed with periods of acute illness such as chest infections and urinary tract infections. Communication about their end-of-life care is often limited, leading to less informed choices and less coordination of care. There is often an assumption that deaths in older patients are ‘timely’ or ‘natural’, and these people are therefore often not considered to be in need of the special care or support that is given to younger patients. Older people who have diseases other than cancer often suffer from longer periods of dependency and illness, receive less specialist input, and are generally less likely to receive hospice care.
