NACEL Audit Guidance 2025
Download the National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL) data specifications, audit guidance and promotional resources for the current audit period year below.
Find information about copyright and IPR permission here or see the full list of guidance and outputs here.
Audit Guidance
The audit guidance document is intended to provide guidance on each aspect of NACEL for all acute and community organisations in England, Wales and Jersey.
NACEL 2025 Mapping Document
This document maps each question and its audit element to the Primary and Secondary Drivers. It also outlines which questions are used as a Key Indicator or for the Management of Outliers Analysis.
Case Note Review
The Case Note Review collects patient level data on the deaths within the audit criteria, focusing on ten indicators of care, including recognition of dying, timely review of the dying and deceased patient, etc.
Bereavement Survey
The Bereavement Survey is an online questionnaire to be completed by bereaved person(s) of all eligible patients who died within the audit criteria. For Trusts/Heath Boards: example promotional materials are available here. The survey is available in 12 languages - printable versions are available here.
The following elements of NACEL will be available to complete later in the year. See the audit guidance document or visit our Key Dates page for more detail of timescales.
Annual death data collection
Each submission will complete a small data collection element in early 2026 which will collect the number of deaths that took place in 2025.
Hospital/Site Audit
Each submission will complete the Hospital/Site Overview every year. This audit element will focus on access to Specialist Palliative Care Teams within the hospital/site.