Gandy, Rob

There is an increasing international policy direction to promote home death for dying patients which will impact on the demands placed on family carers. The early identification of carer needs and appropriate intervention can help avoid crisis situations for the carer and avoidable hospital admissions which are reported to be a global concern. The aim of the study was to explore what professionals and carers of patients with cancer and advanced progressive illness, in their last year of life, find burdensome and to develop an alert system for use by non-specialist staff. 

In 2009, the NHS National Centre for Involvement and Liverpool Primary Care Trust undertook a national pilot project to establish how best to undertake patient and public involvement in respect of end of life (EOL) services. This article describes the outcomes from its sub-project which focused on young carers. It is projected that there are substantial numbers of young carers in the UK, at any one point in time, supporting their (grand)parents, or other adult family members, during their terminal illness.