LANCASHIRE has the second-highest rate of people who have experience of hospice care, a survey reveals.

A YouGov poll said of 189 people from the county surveyed, 45per cent said they had been to a hospice.

The findings, which come after a high-profile right-to-die debate in the House of Lords, put the county second out of 10 UK regions.

The South West came top with 54per cent.

Sixty-four per cent thought such care allows a useful and peaceful end to life, and 77per cent thought the law should be changed to allow terminally-ill people to choose medical help to die.

A spokesman for pro-euthanasia pressure group Dignity in Dying said: "It is clear that the people of Lancashire are among the most knowledgeable in the country about hospice and palliative care, and they still strongly support a right to die well for terminally-ill people."

The Lords debated a bill that would allow doctors to help terminally-ill people to die.