Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce the next phase of the National Service Frameworks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early priorities for Modern Service Frameworks will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of MSFs and has recently announced an MSF on palliative and end-of-life care.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce the next phase of the Modern Service Frameworks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early priorities for Modern Service Frameworks will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of MSFs and has recently announced an MSF on palliative and end-of-life care.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how he is drawing on the work of the Independent Palliative Care Commission to develop the strategy for the delivery of palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We welcome the independent scrutiny by the Independent Palliative Care Commission. I met the Hon. Member for York Central and Baroness Finlay of Llandaff to discuss the commission’s first report of three and formally responded to that report last year.
The Government is developing a palliative and end of life care modern service framework (MSF) for England. The MSF is be developed in close collaboration with stakeholders, including members from the Independent Palliative Care Commission.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to announce the next phase of modern service frameworks.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early priorities for Modern Service Frameworks will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of MSFs and has recently announced an MSF on palliative and end-of-life care.
Asked by: Chris Bloore (Labour - Redditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national strategy for palliative and end of life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England, for publication later this year.
The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.
For further information on the MSF I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Statement HCWS1087 I made to the House on 24 November 2025.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in devising the workforce plan, if he will include palliative care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how does he intend to address the revenue shortfall in palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, the Government has confirmed multi-year revenue support for children and young people’s hospices, totalling £26 million in 2025/26 and approximately £80 million across the three years 2026/27 to 2028/29, adjusted for inflation, which will, once again, be allocated via ICBs on behalf of NHS England, providing greater certainty for planning.
We are developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England later this year. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.
Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.
The recently published Medium-Term Planning Framework also states that, from April 2026, ICBs and relevant NHS providers should ensure an understanding of current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when will he announce the next phase of Modern Service Frameworks, and what consideration has been given to including musculoskeletal conditions in the next phase of the Modern Service Frameworks.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As announced in the 10-Year Health Plan, as well as an overall quality strategy, the National Quality Board will oversee the development of a new series of service frameworks. These modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and will then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery.
Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, sepsis, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia. As advised by the National Quality Board, the Government will consider other conditions for future phases of modern service frameworks, and has recently announced a Modern Service Framework on Palliative and End of Life Care.
We are advancing modern service frameworks for those conditions where we can swiftly and significantly raise the quality of care and productivity. Future phases will address conditions that carry substantial health and economic consequences.
To support people with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, we are working to deliver the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) MSK Community Delivery Programme. GIRFT teams are working with health system leaders to reduce MSK community waiting times, which are the highest of all community waits, and improve data and metrics and referral pathways to wider support services.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of York Frailty Hub for enabling people to access palliative care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While no formal national evaluation of the York Community Frailty Hub’s specific impact on palliative care access has been undertaken, the evidence set out in our 10-Year Health Plan shows that the hub is an effective model for improving timely and appropriate care for older frail people closer to their home, including those who may require palliative support.
The Government is developing a palliative and end-of-life care modern service framework (MSF) for England. As part of the development of the MSF, we are running an open call for evidence from stakeholders for examples of evidence-based interventions that are demonstrated to be effective at improving the quality of, and/or access to, palliative care. We welcome submissions on the York Frailty Hub in response to this call for evidence.
The York Frailty Hub was established in November 2023 to address the fragmented support for older people in the community. The hub is an integrated multidisciplinary initiative designed to proactively manage frailty within the community. This service provides frailty prevention, crisis response, and discharge support, aiming to reduce hospital admissions and improve the quality of life, and health and social care outcomes for frail individuals in York.
The Frailty Hub team is a multi-disciplinary team comprised of co-located frailty nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, general practitioners with a special interest in frailty, and a palliative care nurse, among other healthcare professionals.
The Frailty Hub is delivering impactful, coordinated, and cost-effective care for some of York’s most vulnerable citizens and is being recognised nationally as an example of excellent integrated delivery of community care. Continued investment in this model promises further efficiencies, reduced hospital admissions, better outcomes, and an enhanced community care experience. This integrated service is evolving at pace and finding efficiencies whenever possible.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Birmingham (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Merron on 24 November (HLWS1086), whether the Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England will (1) quantify the incremental funding needed to ensure the availability of comprehensive specialist palliative care across England, (2) include allocated funding to fully meet that need, and (3) guarantee that every person who is assessed to benefit from and chooses to receive comprehensive specialist palliative care will be legally entitled to it.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statement HLWS1086 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.