62 Observational study of the prevalence of hospital in-patients in the last year of life in 2023, to support implementation of the gold standards framework

<h3>Introduction</h3> A third of hospital patients are in their last year of life (Clarke et al. 2014) and almost 50% of people die in hospital. At Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (DGFT) we have implemented the Gold Standards Framework (GSF) and are able to record the GSF status on our hospital electronic patient record (EPR). To support the wards with GSF implementation an observational study of the prevalence of hospital inpatients in the last year of life has been repeated together with a review of the number of deaths over the same year on the wards. <h3>Method</h3> The number of inpatients on the 1.4.23 were identified and data analyst teams reported the number/percentage that had died within the next 12 months for each adult inpatient ward. These deaths can occur in any setting. The number of patients that died on each ward from the 1.4.23 – 31.3.24 were also recorded including GSF. <h3>Results</h3> The results identified that on the 1.4.23 there were 631 adult inpatients and 236 ( 37%) died within 12 months in any setting. Furthermore, the percentage is available for each ward and for a number of the medical wards the percentage of patients in the last year of life was over 50% on the 1.4.23. 67% of hospital deaths had been identified as GSF Red or Amber. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Compared to previous observational studies looking at the retrospective percentage of deaths in any setting over a 12-month period, there is some variation between wards from year to year. The proportion of deaths can now also be considered alongside the number of deaths on that ward over the same 12-month period, and when considering individual targets wards can utilise the evidence for their patient cohort and the Proactive Indicator Guidance.