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.
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