Compassionate Communities: Why Dying is a Social Event with a Medical Component, Not a Medical Event with a Social Component: Reflecting on the 95% Rule

End-of-life care is a public health concern. More people are expected to die each year for the next 15 years.

It will put more strain on services following the pandemic. If we do not share the responsibility of helping with end-of-life care we’ll see more, and potentially unwanted, deaths in hospital, more cases of carer exhaustion, and higher rates of disabling bereavement.

We have a range of options to help people plan for a birth of a child. There are also options to personalise the experience of dying according to a person’s preferences, values, and beliefs.

However, we need to advertise this more and help people prepare. A stressful end-of-life experience can be traumatic for the people that witness the death. Trauma can be prevented, or reduced, if we invest more in death education and specific community development strategies.

This research aims to spread Death Literacy. This is practical know-how about what to do, where to seek help, and how to plan for death. It covers practical issues about how to access support in your local neighbourhood, and public messages to help educate and resolve uncertainties.