Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of training given to palliative care specialists.

We will ensure the National Health Service has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it, including at end of life. In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade to treat patients on time again.

As we expand the medical workforce, we will ensure there is growth in foundation placement capacity and specialty training places that meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure this growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

The training of health care professionals is the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Health and Care Professions Council. These have the general function of promoting high standards of education and coordinating all stages of education to ensure that health and care students and newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for professional practice.

The training curricula for postgraduate specialty training, including for palliative and end of life care, is set by the relevant Royal College and must meet the standards set by the GMC.

To ensure the health and social care workforce, including volunteers, are equipped and well- supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, hosts the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.

Additionally, we have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, and a central part of the Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.