The role of hospitals in caring for people in the last year of their lives.

This study explored the role of hospitals in caring for people in the last year of their lives by examining hospital use and the characteristics of people admitted to hospital and changes between 1969 and 1987. Results were based on an 80% random sample of 800 adult deaths in ten areas of England in 1987. People dying when they were 85 or more were the least likely to be admitted to hospital in the last year of their lives. Results raise questions about the traditional emphasis of hospital care, the training of medical students, the adequacy of care for the very elderly in the last year of their lives and the balance of care between the hospital and the community.