Charity warns of care gaps forcing patients into emergency services in England

A charity warned that gaps in round-the-clock end-of-life care in the community are increasingly forcing patients to rely on urgent and emergency support in England. A report from the charity and experts at King’s College London found that the scale of emergency care support for people in their last year of life has grown. In 2023, people in the last year of life accounted for almost 770,000 ambulance trips to emergency departments and almost 890,000 emergency admissions, taking up 11.5 million unplanned hospital bed days.

The increasing reliance on emergency care due to gaps in community support puts significant strain on public health infrastructure. Experts suggest that investing in palliative and end-of-life care could alleviate pressure on hospitals.