The poor face dying alone

People in the most deprived areas of Scotland are more likely to die alone at home, according to research that reveals the significant impact of health inequalities on end-of-life care.

Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University discovered found that, in the last 12 weeks of their lives, 37% of those in the least deprived areas lived with a family member or friend who was a carer, compared with 28% of those in the most deprived areas and that elderly people in those areas which were most deprived were 37% less likely to die in a care home or hospice than those living in the least deprived areas.

Higher deprivation was connected to a greater chance of living alone. In the last 12 weeks of their lives, 23.3% of people in the least deprived areas lived alone, as opposed to 38.4% of those in the most deprived areas.

The researchers found that, of those who died in the most deprived areas during the research period, 13% did so in a care home, 6% in a hospice, 53% in hospital and 28% at home. They died on average aged 72.5, 6.3 years earlier than someone in the least deprived areas.

For those in the least deprived areas, 22% died in a care home, 8% in a hospice, 20% at home and 50% in hospital. On average, they died aged 78.8.

Scotland continues to have some of the lowest life expectancy rates in western Europe, with the country also trailing behind the UK as a whole. The average male life expectancy north of the border is 77.1, compared with 79.2 for the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/sep/13/scotlands-most-deprived-more-likely-die-alone-at-home