People die everywhere, so care should be optimised in all settings and all along the way.

We agree with Pollock that a preoccupation with dying at home as an indicator of a good death deflects attention from improving the quality of care elsewhere. Because people die in all settings, and will continue to do so, we should seek to optimise the care of patients not only at home, but in care homes, hospitals, and hospices (although hospice care has been greatly prioritised to date). Another obvious reason for this approach is that people move through several settings as they die—whether from cancer, organ failure, or frailty—and the place of death is at the end of a road. Far from being a static phenomenon, end of life is a trajectory, and we have to consider it as a dynamic process.Wemust ensure not only that the finishing line is safe, but also that the road is as bearable as possible. Regarding patients’ wishes and priorities for their care, it is difficult to find personal answers to these questions in public surveys. We have to encourage a continuing exchange (conversation) between patients and their various health professionals and caregivers, all along the illness trajectory. With the renewed emphasis on early palliative care, let’s optimise the quality of care from the beginning to the end of the final path we all will tread.