Palliative Care - Data
What you told us
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What the data tells us
Palliative care is the care, treatment and support someone receives when they have a life limiting illness. It aims to improve the quality of life of patients and their families, through the prevention and relief of suffering. It involves the early identification and careful assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial or spiritual. Palliative care can involve hospitals, hospices, GP practices and community teams. When people are in receipt of palliative care in the community it is normally co-ordinated by the District Nurses.
In February 2019 there were 504 people registered with their GP as being in receipt of palliative care (Midlothian GP Internal Data. Palliative Care Register, 2019).
51 people were in receipt of specialist palliative nursing care from the Marie Curie (Marie Curie Internal Data, 2019).
Patients and carers express their preference to be cared for in the place where they live, for as long as possible. Where possible, many would also prefer to die in their place of residence (NHS Lothian). There is no national and systematic data recorded on a person’s preferred place of care at end of life and so the percentage of last six months spent at home or in a community setting is measured.
Percentage of last six months of life spent at home or in a community setting (Financial year ending 31 March)
Data Source: Scottish Public Health Observatory
| Area | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
| Midlothian HSCP | 84.8 | 85.6 | 84.6 | 85.5 | 87.3 | 85.9 | 86.4 | 88.3 | 88.2 |
| Scotland | 86.4 | 86.6 | 87.0 | 87.4 | 88.0 | 88.0 | 88.3 | 90.2 | 89.8 |
The increase from 2013/14 to 2021/2219 roughly equals an extra 6 days on average spent at home or in a community setting. The difference between Midlothian and the Scottish average was around 3 days in 2021/22.
Analysis of Scottish level data suggests the percentage of the last six months of life spent at home or in a community setting for those living in the most deprived areas is the same as those living in the least deprived areas.
Page updated October 2024