Enabling people to die in comfort and with dignity is hugely important for the patient and their family and is a core function of the NHS (DH [36], NEoLCP [101], NICE [108]). End‐of‐life care has come to the forefront of international government health policies. The Care Quality Commission has included end‐of‐life care as one of its key areas of assessment (CQC [31]).

The End of Life Care Strategy (DH [36]) set out guidance aimed at improving care and choices for all people regardless of their diagnosis and place of care. The principal aims are to improve the quality of care for those approaching the end of their life and to enable greater choices and control about their place of care and death. The strategy, which focuses on the role of health and social care, states that high‐quality end‐of‐life care should be available wherever the person may be: at home, in a care home, in hospital, in a hospice or elsewhere (DH [36]). In 2015, the document Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care set out six ambitions (Figure 11.1) that offer further guidance on caring for this group of patients and their families (NEoLCP [101]). Each of the six ambitions includes a statement to describe the ambition in practice, primarily from the point of view of a person nearing the end of life. Although the focus of this document is related to the experience of the dying person, its reach is much broader. The document suggests that each statement should be read as an ambition for carers, families, those important to the dying person, and (where appropriate) people who have been bereaved.