What can mortality data tell us about health inequalities at end of life?

Background: Mortality data can provide important insights about the end of life care needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Information relating to causes of death, place of death, care home use at end of life and other indicators can help with the planning and delivery of services and can support local drives towards improving end of life care. This discussion will focus on what mortality data tells us about the end of life care in Wales and Ireland.

Method: Stuart Todd from Wales, using UK population based data, will consider the links between the nature of death and place of care for people with IDD, and the implications of this, for end of life care provision. Mary McCarron will draw on Irish Data from IDS TILDA to present information on approximately 100 older adults who have died across the first 10 years of IDS TILDA.

Conclusion: The roundtable will discuss what the findings from these studies suggest about improving end of life care for people with IDD, and will draw on the experiences of attendees in how to optimize end of life care for this population.