Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that palliative care is accessible to all people who need it.

Our ambition is for everyone approaching the end of life to receive high quality care that reflects their individual needs, choices and preferences. On 5 July 2016, we set out our commitment to end of life care in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care. In 2016, the National End of Life Care Programme Board, chaired by Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England Medical Director, was set up to oversee the implementation of the commitment.

The commitments in the response will address the unacceptable variation in access to end of life care and the quality of care. They will put in place improvements in all settings where end of life care is delivered, including in hospital, in a care home, or at home, and improve access to specialist palliative care advice through urgent and emergency care clinical hubs.