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AS WE plan for life, we should plan for death. Because although dying is part of life, it is often regarded as a peripheral event. And as such it has been treated as a poor relation within our health services and by the wider public as little more than a passing theme, generally ignored until the inevitable happens.

However, there are encouraging signs of change. Among them is the endorsement by the Health Information and Quality Authority of the work of the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme in relation to the development of standards for end-of-life care in hospitals. A new consultation document has set a benchmark for best practice in relation to end of life care provision, allowing families – and those who are dying – to know what they can reasonably expect from hospitals in terms of service provision, support and quality of care.