The Quality of Death Index 2015 reveals about 85 percent of the world’s population are denied the access to quality palliative care and hospice care.
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Canada ranked 11th overall in the latest index with a score of 77.8, after tying for ninth with the United States when the EIU did its first Quality of Death index in 2010.
A troubling finding in the report is the lack of basic pain management in a few developing countries, leaving many to suffer.
Annie Pannelay, of EIU healthcare, said: “A very strong marker in our index is the availability of specialised palliative care workers and this is where the United Kingdom scores particularly well”.
The Economist Intelligence Unit credits the Affordable Care Act with helping deliver sweeping changes throughout the US health-care system, though the private sector has also developed ways of delivering on the increased demand for palliative services.
India and China are ranked 67th and 71st respectively, while Taiwan has the highest rank in Asia, at sixth position. Australia and New Zealand take second and third place, as they did in 2010, while rich European and Asian countries dominate the top 20, along with the United States in 9th place and Canada in 11th.
Still, the report says, a few low-income countries rank surprisingly highly: Panama (31) is making palliative care part of primary care; hospice care is growing in Mongolia (28), and painkillers are much more available in Uganda (35).
A few eighty five p.c of the world’s inhabitants is with out entry to high quality palliative care.
“However, a few argue that even without major investments, significant improvements can be made in the palliative care”, it added.
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It cited an investigation carried out by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in May, which looked at complaints about end of life care in the country. The report commends america for a palliative care system that’s “clear”, however characterised a lot of America’s finish-of-life care as unaffordable and understaffed.”The variety of specialists falls in need of affected person wants”, the report claims. We are told repeatedly about planning for retirement, yet rarely is there any talk about what happens at the time of death, which means most people do not think about what needs to be done to die better. “She’s a brilliant teacher, leader and visionary”, Stephen Connor, senior fellow at the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, said in the report.
