Death experts are calling for end-of-life education for families and carers, as a new report confirms the aging population is putting pressure on the medical system.

The report released last week by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine found a 16 per cent increase in hospital presentations for older people in the past five years, and is recommending more funding for in-home care.

“What is coming is the silver tsunami for our aging population. We’re going to have a lot of deaths here. There’s no beds. There’s no staff to care for them,” said death doula Erin Griffin.

Ms Griffin guides and educates people during death in accompaniment to hospice care.

She said large gaps in education about death are leaving carers under-resourced to care for aging family members.

“The root shock of death arriving is such a brutal force on mind, body and being. I think the least we can do is try and have things in place to soften the hardness of that reality,” she said.

“Education is the foundation to build death and dying, grief and loss literacy.”

The ACEM report recommended more funding for alternative pathways allowing people to remain at home.

This report comes after the expansion of the 2025 Federal Government initiative dubbed the End of Life Pathway, which funded Australians with less than three months to live $25,000 to support at-home care. The initiative was recently updated to extend its coverage past three months, if the patient was still living.

However, with the steady increase in hospitalisations, Ms Griffin said many people were not aware of programs like this, and even then it’s not a one size fits all situation.

She said many people just aren’t even aware that death doulas or end-of-life guides exist, or how quickly they need to act to get everything in place. She worries that some people think it would take too long to organise but hopes the End of Life Pathway, shifts the way people think about dying at home.

Pam, whose last name is witheld for privacy, said when her mum was dying, she wanted to be at home but her family wasn’t prepared and wasn’t aware of the options.

Her mother died in hospital and Pam said: “It wasn’t the environment we wanted for our mum. I believe there is a difference in the care that’s given, in a palliative setting rather than a medical setting. It could take half an hour to get pain relief in hospital.”

Several years later, when her terminally ill son was dying, she was able to honour his wishes to die at home and felt more prepared.

“I think a lot of people are scared of death. And they are scared that they will do something wrong. So they think they’re better off in a hospital setting.

“People that might be able to take advantage of the palliative care system and have their loved ones at home, probably just need that education to show what support that they will have.”

Palliative care specialist Karen Anderson said being informed about what choices are available can help empower dying people and their families.

“We do have such a thing as good deaths,” Ms Anderson said.

She said the medical and emotional aspects of death work hand-in-hand, so even if carers can’t do all that a hospice or palliative doctor could, their role is just as important.

“Remember to include the carers, the people around them. Because they are vital. Medicine can do so much, it can’t do it all. Emotion can do so much, but it’s not the only answer either,” she said.

Ms Griffin said she would love to see more programs educating carers to make this process easier.

“Having someone guide you along the pathway that we will all inevitably walk, but mostly don’t have a map for, is a way to lighten the inevitable and face the reality, or mortality. Avoiding talking about it won’t make it go away,” she said.