Quality and Methodology Information (QMI):National Bereavement Survey (VOICES) QMI

Overview:

• first commissioned by the Department of Health in 2011 as part of the End of Life Care Strategy

• focuses on the last 3 months of a persons life

• roughly 49,000 adults that have died in England are selected from our deaths registration database

• 2011 and 2012 surveys were based on Primary Care Trust clusters and surveys from 2013 onwards are based on NHS Local Area Team

The National Bereavement Survey (VOICES – Views of Informal Carers – Evaluation of Services) is an annual survey designed to look at the quality of end of life care. The questionnaire is sent by post to the person that registered the death of the deceased (usually a relative or friend of the deceased) between 4 and 11 months after the death. If no response is received it is followed up with 2 additional reminders.

To make sure it is a representative sample of deaths in England and that it covers the main areas of interest, the sample is divided by cause of death, place of death and geographical spread. Deaths due to an accident, suicide of homicide or if the death occurred somewhere other than home, care home, hospital or hospice, or where the address details of the informant are not given are not included in the sample frame.

The Department for Health and the NHS use this information to inform policy decisions and evaluate the quality of end of life care. Other users of the statistics include a range of organisations and people involved in end of life care, including the National End of Life Care Network, the National End of Life Care Programme, academics, health researchers and charities.