Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations identified by the National Institute for Health Research in its article A highly personalised approach to end of life care is needed to help Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities, published on 17 December 2021; and what plans they have to implement them.

While no formal assessment has been made, we agree with these recommendations on the importance of personalised care and healthcare professionals having discussions with individuals and families on their needs and preferences. The NHS Long Term Plan set out ambitions to improve personalised end of life care, including improving equity of access to services for all under-served populations. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s palliative and end of life care strategic clinical networks work with local systems to support the delivery of this priority, including efforts to reduce health inequalities.

Care committed to me: Delivering high quality, personalised palliative and end of life care for Gypsies and Travellers, LGBT people and people experiencing homelessness. A resource for commissioners, service providers and health, care and support staff was published in 2018. This resource was produced for commissioners, providers, healthcare professionals and support staff to offer practical guidance on effective approaches to support personalised palliative and end of life care for these communities. A copy is attached.