Integrated Care Boards: Palliative Care

(asked on 17th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans take to ensure that Chairs of Integrated Care Boards fulfil the requirements of the provision in the Health and Care Bill on the commissioning of palliative care.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 19th April 2022

NHS England will be responsible for issuing statutory guidance to integrated care boards (ICBs) in relation to their commissioning functions. This includes the commissioning of palliative care, the definition of services and ensuring that ICBs fulfil their obligations in all their functions.   Guidance currently available to commissioners for the provision of palliative and end of life care includes the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance and quality standard, which was updated in September 2021.

The Bill does not provide a specific definition of the word ‘palliative’ and there are no plans to use the World Health Organization’s definition of ‘specialist palliative care’. The consistency of provision of health services in England will be achieved through NHS England’s oversight of ICBs fulfilling their commissioning obligations. In 2016, NHS England and NHS Improvement issued guidance to commissioners on specialist level palliative care for people with progressive, life-limiting illness and complex needs. The guidance will be kept under review and updated as required, to ensure it meets the needs of commissioners.

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