133. The taboo nature of the subject of death has been a recurrent theme of this inquiry. A general reluctance to discuss the topic informs much of society and perhaps accounts in part for the problems people encounter in negotiating choices in this area. Whereas in all eras up to the present, death was a very visible fact of everyday life, now it is something which tends not even to be discussed, and is rarely witnessed.

134. An important place to begin is in addressing end of life issues, the nature of dying and the rituals of death, within the education process in schools. In this respect we note the materials being developed by Help the Hospices for use within the National Curriculum and the recent guide to teaching young children about death and dying produced by the Child Bereavement Trust. The author of that guide, Gill Frances, director of children's development at the National Children's Bureau, has suggested that the issue of death is "currently sidelined in a lot of schools".[145] ACT also suggested that, although there is much reference material available on this issue, in the main children are not taught about death even though it is an aspect of everyone's life.

135. The right to 'a good death' should be fundamental. We believe that social attitudes are part of the problem, and that a willingness to be open about death will facilitate better communication and ultimately better provision. We hope that this is an area the Department for Education and Skills will address, both by examining the place of education about death within the curriculum and within teacher training.

136. We also believe that all health professionals will increasingly face the issues raised by this inquiry, given shifts in the population, with more people living longer with a range of progressive illnesses, as well as cancer, where cure cannot be achieved. The key message from our inquiry is that if palliative care is to achieve improvements in the quality of the last months of life across the population it will need to operate in a much more equitable way. It will also need to be delivered more strategically and to find a way of overcoming the divide between health and social care.