Hospice planning in North Staffordshire.

A study of the work of the Douglas Macmillan Home at Blurton, Stroke-on-Trent, during the years 1974-76 suggests that hospice care for those dying from terminal malignancy is required on a minimum scale of 50 or 60 beds per million of the population and that 10 per cent more women than men will be admitted. Enquiries have shown that these estimates are reliable and that the service is valued locally.