Most of us never say what we want at the end of our lives. Research for Dying Matters Awareness Week found fewer than a third of people (31%) have talked to anyone about their end of life wishes, only 8% have written them down, and 71% say people are uncomfortable discussing death. For Dying Matters Coalition, we built a broadcast PR campaign around a simple message: everyone deserves to die well, and that is more likely if we talk about it early. We put the chief executive of the coalition and of the National Council for Palliative Care on air across a radio day of interviews. The campaign secured 17 items of radio coverage reaching 3.3 million listeners, including BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Kent.
Dying Matters Coalition wanted to get people, especially those aged 55 to 75 and GPs, talking openly about dying, death and end of life care.
The message
Everyone deserves to die well, and that is more likely if we talk about it early. Discussing dying and death should become a normal part of living.
The angle
Research for Dying Matters Awareness Week found fewer than a third of people (31%) have talked to anyone about their end of life wishes, only 8% have written down their wishes, and 71% say people are uncomfortable discussing death.
On air
The chief executive of the coalition and of the National Council for Palliative Care
The result
17 items of coverage reaching 3.3 million, including BBC Radio Merseyside, BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Devon.
More campaigns for Dying Matters Coalition
Dying Matters Coalition has come back to Relations Group for other broadcast PR campaigns:
Dying Matters Awareness Week is an annual UK week that encourages people to talk about dying, death and bereavement and to plan ahead. It grew out of the Dying Matters Coalition led by the National Council for Palliative Care, and it has been run by Hospice UK since the two charities merged in 2017. The 2026 week ran from 4 to 10 May. Stations plan their coverage of it in advance, which makes it a strong hook for a broadcast PR campaign.
Planning Dying Matters Awareness Week for 2027?
Dying Matters Awareness Week usually runs in early May; the 2027 dates have not yet been announced. Talk to the team about a broadcast PR campaign that gets your spokesperson on radio and TV.
