Dying Matters Awareness Week

Honest, timely conversations about death and dying are essential to good end of life care. Yet all too often barriers, including lack of confidence, taboos around discussing death, and confusion about who should be having these conversations mean patients, carers and families may not understand what is happening, or get all the information and support they need.

We shared what the public think about how language used by healthcare professionals has affected end of life experiences, and shared stories from people who are dying, and the families of people who have died.

The brilliant people who work in our 200+ hospices around the UK are experts in death, dying, and end of life care. So we asked them to share their tips and advice on how to start honest, transparent conversations about death and dying to help people feel informed, supported, and empowered at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

For Dying Matters Awareness Week in 2024, we helped communities around the UK to come together to talk about having those end of life conversations, whether with their healthcare professionals – or families, friends and colleagues.

Because the way we talk about Dying Matters.

There was a lot happening for Dying Matters Awareness Week in 2024.

Hundreds of events took place around the UK - explore them.

Read our featured stories of Patricia, Mumtaz or Lucy - or watch our campaign animation (see above).

We shared plenty of resources to help everyone make the most of the week, and some might still be useful now.

We can't do any of this alone, so if you'd like to help make a huge difference when it comes to having honest conversations about death and dying, please consider making a donation.