Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure equitable access to hospice and palliative care services across the regions of England.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard. The dashboard helps commissioners to understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.

The Department and NHS England are currently working at pace to develop plans on how best to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

Additionally, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department has invested £3 million in a Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care. This unit is building the evidence base on palliative care and end of life care, with a specific focus on inequalities.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also committing £80 million for children’s and young people’s hospices over the next three financial years, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients.