Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the recommendations set out in the Government’s national commitment to improve end of life care will be implemented in full by 2020; and if he will make a statement.

On 21 September 2017 we published a report setting out the good progress made over the first year in implementing the Choice Commitment, and we remain committed to improving services and ending variation in end of life care by 2020. Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to deliver the Choice Commitment, and working through NHS England’s National Programme Board for End of life Care, with all key system partners and stakeholders a, range of activity is ongoing to achieve this. Progress over the first year includes:

- supporting the roll-out of digital palliative and end of life care records;

- engaging local Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships to support service planning for end of life of care;

- inspecting and rating National Health Service hospital and community services for end of life care;

- providing support to trusts to help them improve end of life care services;

- testing Personal Health Budgets for people approaching the end of life to give them choice and control over their care;

- developing metrics to assess quality and experience in end of life care; and

- working to change the nursing and medical undergraduate and postgraduate curricula to improve patient choice and quality of care.

Going forward, we expect to see more patients having informed honest discussions about their needs and preferences with clinicians, developing personalised care plans, involving their family and carers as much as they wish in their care, and having the confidence to know who to contact to get help and advice day or night. A copy of One year on: the government response to the review of choice in end of life care can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-progress