Palliative Care: Coronavirus

(asked on 11th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking help ensure provision of end of life care by community-based palliative care teams during the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 21st May 2020

It is important to ensure patients requiring high-quality palliative and end of life care, whether in hospices or in the community, continue to receive that support during the COVID-19 outbreak.

To support local commissioners during this challenging time, a range of guidance has already been made available to support the delivery of high-quality end of life care in community settings, including:

- The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) ‘Rapid Guideline: managing symptoms (including at the end of life) in the community’.

- The NHS England and NHS Improvement clinical specialty guide ‘Community Palliative, End of Life and Bereavement Care in the COVID-19 pandemic’.

- The NHS England and NHS Improvement clinical guidelines for children and young people with palliative care needs in all care settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Links to the guidance are as follows:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG163

elearning.rcgp.org.uk/pluginfile.php/149342/mod_resource/content/1/COVID%20Community%20symptom%20control%20and%20end%20of%20life%20care%20for%20General%20Practice%20FINAL.PDF

www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/03/C0249-clinical-guidelines-children-young-people-with-palliative-care-needs-24-04-2020.pdf

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