The Marie Curie/St Luke's Relative Support Scheme: a home care service for relatives of the terminally ill.

A hospice-based scheme for the support of relatives of dying patients is described. The majority of carers were females and almost a third of them elderly. Most patients were suffering from malignancy. Relatives reported a high level of satisfaction with the help they received from the scheme, but late referral was a common source of dissatisfaction. A large proportion of patients subsequently died at home but it is suggested that the intervention of the relative support scheme was not the only contributory factor. The perceptions of nurses working for the scheme and the susceptibility of volunteers to stress are highlighted.