THE head of a Worcester hospice has welcomed the finding of a national report ranking end-of-life care in the UK as the best in the world.

The findings of the survey of palliative care in 80 countries were published today and said services provided by the NHS and UK hospices were “second to none”.

Chief executive of St Richard’s Hospice Mark Jackson said he was pleased patients and their families were getting the best quality care and support, but said he believed more could be done to make it better still.

“We are very lucky in Worcestershire,” he said.

“We had a very good Primary Care Trust which made sure palliative care was well funded across all providers.

“We work in partnership with Kemp and Primrose Hospice as well as from the Health and Care Trust and the Acute Trust.”

Mr Jackson added key to providing patients with the best possible care was a computer system meaning records and information could be easily shared with the county’s NHS and other providers.

“Through this we are able to properly coordinate patient needs,” he said.

“It’s brilliant. But there is still work to be done.

“The next step is looking at GPs access to these as well.”

He also paid tribute to the generous donors and fundraisers who have kept the charity running since 1984.

“We get less than a third of our money from the NHS,” he said. “The rest comes from the people of Worcestershire.

“But hospices in the UK contributed £1 billion to palliative care in the UK last year alone. That is quite enormous.”

The survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked palliative care in Australia as second best in the world, followed by New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium and Taiwan.

Iraq was ranked worst, followed by Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nigeria.

The report has been widely welcomed by health bosses across the UK, although many have said too many people with life-threatening diseases and conditions are still going without the care and treatment they need.

Among these were director of policy and public affairs at Marie Curie Simon Jones, who said one in five people dying in the UK every year were not getting the care they need, which he called “quite simply not good enough”.

"If there is a 'business as usual' approach following this report, then we will only see more cases of vulnerable people failing to get the care they need,” he said.

The rankings were worked out through a range of measures including hospitals and hospice environments, staffing numbers and skills as well as the affordability and quality of care.

St Richard’s Hospice provides free specialist palliative care and support for more than 2,600 patients living with life-threatening illnesses and their families every year.

The charity runs a day hospice as well as a 24-hour, 17-bed inpatient unit in Wildwood Drive, Worcester.

For more information call 01905 763 963 or visit www.strichards.org.uk.