CARERS who have looked after people in their own home are being invited to take part in research.

South Bucks Hospice, working alongside Bucks New University, is investigating ways to improve support for those looking after terminally ill people at home.

The aim is to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions which would go against the wishes of many dying people and to provide carers with the necessary skills and knowledge to care for a person at the end of their life at home.

Project team member Charlotte Hopkins said: “The aim of this research is to enable South Bucks Hospice to find out the reasons behind hospital admissions at the end of life, so that they can provide support services and information which will facilitate people to die at home and not in hospital.

"We are asking bereaved carers and bereavement groups to get in contact to talk about their experiences in providing end of life care and the use of emergency services.

"Whether the bereavement was a few years ago or more recently, all research input is of value to us.”

The research team will be collecting data for the study through a survey and one-to-one interviews. If you have experience looking after someone at the end of their life and would like to participate in this research, you can visit www.bucks.ac.uk/research/research_news_events to fill in a survey or find out more about the project.