No, they're wasting her screen time with Derek
I couldnt care less about her relationship with Derek . I want to see her mix with people like Ian, Dot, and Mo during these scenes leading up to her death.
ETA: With this whole Derek thing, it almost feels like she's going to die before the storyline has really concluded. I wanted her character to have a 'finale' - and a happy one at that. The scene in the living room on Xmas Eve when she walked in and saw her family all laughing and happy and she smiled - it would've been nicer if she'd gone to bed and died that night instead. I know deaths aren't like this in real life, but in Soap anything can happen (and does!) so they should have let Pat have one an ending of this kind imo.