Political Affiliation and Population Views on the Role of Family and Volunteer Carers to Supplement State Provision in End of Life Care in England

Verne, Julia; Tapp, Alan; Nancarrow, Clive; Warren, Stella; Morey, Yvette

Abstract

Political affiliation and population views on the role of family and volunteer carers to supplement state provision in end of life care in England
Alan Tapp, Clive Nancarrow, Yvette Morey, Stella Warren, Julia Verne
Background: In England politicians along the political spectrum promote volunteering but for different ideological reasons. It is clear that with the aging population, state end of life care (sEOLC) will need to be supplemented by family and volunteer carers. A qualitative study of people’s views on the role of volunteers to fill gaps in state provision of end of life care services elicited anger, especially from labour supporters who felt the state should provide. Aim: To investigate whether declared party political affiliation influences views on supplementary family and volunteer EOLC in addition to state provision. Methods: An online panel survey of 3,590 adults in England aged 45 years and over through YouGov, purposely sampled to be representative of the population of England with booster samples of those aged 70-79 and 80+ to permit reliable analysis of these groups. The boosters were weighted to ensure the total sample picture was nationally representative on key demographics for adults in England aged 45+. The online panel survey minimised the bias of socially desirable responding (no interviewers present) and question formats used face-saving techniques. Main political affiliations: Conservatives (C), UKIP (U), Labour (L), Liberal Democrat (LD). Results: Conservatives (76%) followed by LD (72%) were more likely to think a volunteer model was a good idea compared with UKIP (69%) Labour (63%). Labour supporters (65%) were most likely to think the volunteer model should not be necessary and the state should provide EOLC compared with U (54%), LD (50%), C (41%). Conservatives (56%) were most likely to think that family should fill the gaps in state EOLC provision compared with U (46%), LD (44%), L (41%). Conclusions: Political views on volunteering in EOLC are important a) in how to influence policy makers, dependent on ruling party and b) how to promote idea to population as messaging may have to be segmented and tailored to their political affiliation.

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: 16th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care
• Start Date: May 23, 2019
• End Date: May 25, 2019
• Deposit Date: Oct 28, 2019
• Keywords: End of Life Care, Palliative Care, Advance Care Plan
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/4168111