People want more choice over where they die

A survey for Marie Curie Cancer Care found two thirds would want to die at home if they were terminally ill.

But the charity says a lack of funding for palliative care means only 25% of cancer patients can currently do so.

The charity says doubling this number would cost the NHS �100m a year - but would save �200m of hospital resources.

The Department of Health last year announced �12m funding to allow terminally people more choice.

It has also provided �6m over the next three years to fund extra training in palliative care for district nurses.

But Marie Curie Cancer Care says even more funding is needed to provide the nursing support families need to care for a terminally ill relative at home.

'Overwhelming support'

It based its estimates on the cost of extending the availability of palliative care on analysis carried out by the University of London.

Researchers calculated that doubling the number of patients cared for at home in England alone would cost �75m.

For the UK as a whole, the bill would be around �100m.

But for every �1 extra invested in appropriate care at home, they estimate �2 would be released in hospital services.

The survey of 2,000 people, carried out for the charity by YouGov, found just under 90% of people would support the choice of someone they knew to die at home, but only 44% believe they are actually capable of being carers.

Tom Hughes-Hallett, chief executive of Marie Curie Cancer Care said: "We are working with the Department of Health, to make choice and quality in palliative care in the UK, a reality.

"Public support for such choice is overwhelming but too few people are actually able to make it.

"We estimate that it would take around �100 million every year to provide this choice and give 37,000 more patients the option to die at home.