A new survey of 80 countries has zeroed in on the best place for palliative care.
If you’ve got a terminal illness and need end-of-life care, there’s one country in the world that does it better than anywhere else.
It’s the UK, according to a survey of 80 countries by the Economic Intelligence Unit, an independent business with The Economist Group that aims at providing forecasting services as well as research and analysis.
The survey rated the National Health Service as “second to none” compared to all of the other countries when it came to providing end-of-life care to terminally ill patients, according to a Telegraph report.
Australia came in second, and neighbor New Zealand was third. Also ranking in the top 10 were Western nations like Ireland, Belgium, Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, and France, as well as Taiwan in East Asia.
The worst places for hospice care? Those would be China, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, according to the report.
The rankings were based on the environment in hospitals and hospices, the number of staff and how well trained they are, and the affordability of end-of-life care.
The findings weren’t great, as only 34 of the 80 countries were classed as having even good palliative care, and the populations of those countries made up just 15 percent of the adult population.
Some poor countries managed to do fairly well, with Mongolia ranking 28th thanks to investments in better hospice facilities, and Uganda placing at 35th.
Simon Jones, who is the director of policy and public affairs at UK hospice provider Marie Curie, said that while the results were flattering, they should be treated with a business-as-usual report because 110,000 people don’t get the care they need every year in the UK. That accounts to one in five people who die in the UK, which “quite simply is not good enough,” he said according to the report.
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