Palliative Care
(asked on 8th January 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) access to and (b) the standard of palliative care; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of provisions in the Health and Care Act 2022 relating to the provision of palliative care.
The Government recognises that access to high-quality, palliative and end of life care can make all the difference to individuals and their loved ones.
As set out on the Health and Care Act 2022, integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative and end of life services that meet the needs of their population. In July 2022, NHS England (NHSE) published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, which sets out the considerations for ICBs to meet their legal duties and makes clear reference to the importance of access to services. The guidance is available at the following link:
Together with NHSE, we are monitoring ICB’s delivery of this responsibility. NHSE‘s palliative and end of life care team has reviewed all 42 ICB Joint Forward Plans for their inclusion of palliative and end of life care, with 69% making a specific mention.
Palliative and end of life care has been added to the agenda for Regional Quality and Performance meetings and ICB commissioners have access to a new palliative and end of life care dashboard, which helps commissioners to understand the palliative and end of life care needs of their local population.
Over the last three years, Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Networks have been funded by NHSE to share best practice between areas and drive improvements in access and quality of care.
NHSE has also taken steps to improve the standard of palliative care, including through developing and leading the Systems Getting to Outstanding programme. This programme is designed to improve the quality of palliative and end of life care through collaboration and peer learning.