Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has for the role hospices will play in shifting care into the community.

We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver an National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. 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.

One of the three shifts that the plan will deliver is around the Government’s determination to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community. This includes our commitment to trial neighbourhood health centres, to ensure that patients receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative and end of life care services, including hospices, will play an important role in our considerations of the services those centres should host. More information about how they can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/