Dying with Dignity

In Dying with Dignity is a report which explore the way in which personalisation could be applied to End of Life care.

Currently too many people die in hospital, against their wishes, when with suitable support they could have been supported to be at home. Only 17.2% of people die at home in Sheffield, against 59% who die in hospital, this is despite the fact that 93% of all deaths are not unexpected.

This is not only bad for people it is also expensive. Support in hospital is over times the cost of average support at home and approximately 20% of all NHS expenditure is in End of Life Care.

The use of individual budgets could make a big difference, especially if families did not need to manage cash or employ staff. Instead, if community organisations and primary care providers were better equipped and supported much more flexible support could be given to families.

The author of this report is Dr Simon Duffy:

Simon Duffy is Director of The Centre for Welfare Reform. He invented individual budgets and self-directed support and led the reform of adult social care services as CEO of In Control from 2003 to 2009. Previously Simon developed a series of organisations and innovations in England and Scotland, including Inclusion Glasgow and Altrum. Simon has a doctorate in philosophy and has a special interest in better understanding and promoting social justice. In 2008 Simon was awarded the RSA’s Prince Albert Medal for his work in developing personalisation and in 2011 the Social Policy Association awarded him with their award for Outstanding Contribution by a non-academic. Simon is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham's Health Service Management Centre and policy advisor to the Campaign for a Fair Society. Simon lives in Sheffield with his wife Nicola and their son Jacob.

The report was published with the support of Macmillan Cancer Support.