麻豆约拍

A new report suggests that the UK has some of the highest standards of palliative care in the world. In its 2015 Quality of Death Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked the UK first out of eighty countries for the standard of its end of life care.

The report says that palliative care has become well integrated into the NHS, the UK has a strong hospice movement and also the public has a good understanding of the issues surrounding end of life care.

But it also says that standards could still improve and the UK's ability to provide care will be stretched by its ageing population and the expected increase in diseases such as dementia, cancer and diabetes.

The report has been welcomed by the National Council for Palliative Care, which represents people involved in end of life care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. But the charity says many people are still being failed as they reach the end of their lives. It suggests that dying people cannot consistently rely on access to pain relief, 24/7 care or being able to die in the place of their choice.

What was your family's experience? Did your relative receive a good quality of care at the end of their life, or did you feel the system let them down?

Email us on youandyours@bbc.co.uk and leave a contact number so we can call you back.

Producer: Jonathan Hallewell
Presenter: Winifred Robinson.