Principles of palliative care

Each GP with an ‘ average ’ list will have 20 patients who die every year. Five ofthose deaths will be from cancer, two will be from a sudden unexpected causeand the remaining 13 will result from chronic disease such as dementia, heartfailure or chronic lung disease. Most GPs have one or two patients with terminaldisease at any time, although these patients often require a disproportionateamount of GP involvement. On average, 47 weeks of the fi nal year of life are spentat home. It is a sad fact that although most patients spend their fi nal year of life athome and would prefer to die at home, the majority are admitted to a hospital orinstitution to die.