Nursing care at end of life: a UK-based survey of the deaths of people living in care settings for people with intellectual disability.

Background: People with intellectual disability are believed to be at risk of receiving poor end-of-life care. Nurses, given their advocacy role and duty to provide compassionate end-of-life care, have the potential to change this situation but research regarding this aspect of their role is limited.

Aims: This paper thus seeks to answer the question 'How and when are nurses involved in providing care at end of life for people with intellectual disability?'

Methods: A total of 38 intellectual disability care providers in the UK providing support to 13,568 people with intellectual disability were surveyed.