THE group in charge of Wyre Forest's health budget has scored highly in a national report on end of life health services.

Wyre Forest Clinical Commissioning Group (WFCCG) was praised for its palliative care after figures published by Public Health England's national end of life intelligence network revealed 57 per cent of district patients were given the chance to die at home, compared to 44 per cent nationally.

Dr Simon Rumley, WFCCG chairman, said: "Offering patients the opportunity to spend their final precious days in the place of their choice involves a great deal of dedication from all members of the palliative care team in Wyre Forest. This hard work is greatly appreciated by patients and their families.

"The results are due to a positive working relationship between our nursing teams and GPs. When it comes to end of life care the focus is on the needs of patients and their carers and we aim to work proactively to support everyone."

The Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust provides end of life care in the county.

Matt Stringer, the trust's community care lead, said: "It is so important to patients and their families end of life care is shaped around them and their wishes and we have made great strides in ensuring our services across the county, including Wyre Forest, do that.

"There is still more to do, however and we believe greater integration with other teams and benchmarking against other trusts will help maintain and even improve on the high standards of palliative care we already provide."

The Public Health England report brings together research during 2013 from a wide range of research organisations and charities. It looks at the influence of marital status and ethnicity on place of death, patient experience, the role of the community and palliative care.