Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve palliative and end of life care in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB), including Mid and South Essex ICB, which covers the South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

NHS England has also developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those their local population, thereby enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.

I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We are also in active discussions with NHS England about maintaining the £25 million of annual funding for children and young people’s hospices in 2025/26, with further information to follow in due course.

Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan, to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, as part of which we will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan. More information about how they can input into the 10 Year Health Plan is available at the following link:

http://change.nhs.uk