Paying for end of life care in the UK

Abstract

To live to a ripe old age, untroubled by health problems, physical or mental, is an almost universal aspiration. But most people are not so lucky and will likely be in care homes for their final years, with varying levels of disease, disability and dementia. Kinley et al [1] maintain that over a fifth of the population of developed countries die in care homes. Moreover, the financial cost of this end of life care, which is the focus of this paper, can be daunting and require much planning [2]. It was reported in 2017 that, in the UK, care home costs are rising up to twice as fast as inflation [3]. Consequently the question arises about the long term affordability of such care to those having to fund it, a question that ever more people both nationally and globally are having to confront.