Nurses are concerned about their ability to deliver care to dying patients with 10.5% feeling able to always deliver the right level of care to patients.
The last wishes of patients had been unfilled in cases attended by 58.5% of nurses surveyed by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).
Two of the reasons given for such failures were a lack of time and a lack of training.
Discussions with patients about end of life care were not always possible for 49% of nurses surveyed, 19.3% said they felt able to have such discussions.
In the community 36% of nurses said their team had the resources to deliver round the clock care to patients who have chosen to die at home.
A lack of resources leading to a patient being taken to hospital against their wishes in their final hours had been witnessed by 69.4% of community nurses.
More than half of nurses surveyed said they were treating end of life patients at least once a week, while 25% of nurses said they had received no specific training, before qualifying or since starting work on end of life care.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive & general secretary of the RCN said: "Sensitive nursing can make an enormous difference to the experience of a dying person and a "good death" with expert care can also make the bereavement process much easier for the loved ones they leave behind.
"Nursing the dying is an art, as well as a science. It cannot be reduced to a process of drug administration or a series of required nursing tasks, however important these things are.
"Nurses need time to listen to what the dying person wants, to recognise their fears and anxieties and to help loved ones to understand what is happening. The nation and the health service need to be better at acknowledging the importance of a good dying process, where our wishes about how we are cared for in our final days are respected and can be delivered when the time comes."
