In this week's Scrubbing Up opinion column, Prof Mayur Lakhani chair of the Dying Matters Coalition, urges doctors to be more open and frank about preparing patients and their families for the end of life. Imagine a situation where most people with a common condition are undiagnosed and where opportunities are repeatedly missed to identify the problem and to offer good care. What is this condition? It's dying. Each year, an estimated 92,000 people in England are believed to need end of life care but not receive it. As a practising GP I have seen distressed relatives after a patient has died in hospital. Often they have not had a chance to see their relative before they died and were unaware of the seriousness of the condition, despite repeated admissions with deteriorating conditions.

A father whose son died from leukaemia has called for a new law requiring school and college students to be taught about donating blood, organs and stem cells. Keith Sudbury's son Adrian, a 27-year-old journalist from Sheffield, died in August 2008. Mr Sudbury spent the final few months of his life campaigning to raise awareness of bone marrow donation. The campaign has been backed by blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan. Mr Sudbury said: "We urgently need more people willing to donate blood and stem cells. "By taking this message to students aged 16 years and over we can grow the first generation of potential lifesavers who really understand what it means to donate blood, organs and stem cells."

A father who lost his son to leukaemia is calling for secondary schools and colleges to include one lesson on how to donate stem cells, blood and organs. Keith Sudbury wants to raise awareness by making donation part of the curriculum for students aged 16 and over. His son Adrian received a stem cell transplant which gave him an extra year of life, but died aged 27. Blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan is supporting the idea of 'Adrian's Law'. Adrian spent the last two years of his life campaigning for better education about stem cell donation.