Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Marie Curie’s report entitled Better End of Life published on of 17 November 2022, which noted more than 780,000 out-of-hours visits to emergency departments by people at the end of life in a single year, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to out-of-hours end of life care for people with a terminal illness.

Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care for people with a terminal illness, including out of hours. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022 and to define how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.