Planning for your future care if you have dementia

End of life care should begin when you need it and may last a few days or months, or sometimes more than a year.

People in lots of different situations can benefit from end of life care. Some of them may be expected to die within the next few hours or days. Others receive end of life care over many months.

People are considered to be approaching the end of life when they are likely to die within the next 12 months, although this is not always possible to predict. This includes people whose death is imminent, as well as people who:

• have an advanced incurable illness, such as cancer, dementia or motor neurone disease
• are generally frail and have co-existing conditions that mean they are expected to die within 12 months
• have existing conditions if they are at risk of dying from a sudden crisis in their condition
• have a life-threatening acute condition caused by a sudden catastrophic event, such as an accident or stroke

It can help families and people with dementia to discuss choices that may be needed to be made regarding care at the end of life such as preferred place of care and an Advance Care Plan can be useful to record this so both family and professionals are aware of the patient’s wishes.

It can be very scary looking after someone who is dying, the following is a video by a Palliative Care Consultant explaining what you may witness when someone is dying. 'Dying is not as bad as you think' | BBC Ideas - YouTube

Further information can be found on the NHS website:

• Palliative care
• End of life, what is involves and when does it start