Optimising palliative and end-of-life care within care home settings.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined palliative care as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.1 Globally, it is estimated that every year over 20 million people will require palliative care at the end of life. Of these 69% are adults over 60 years.