Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings by the charity Together for Short Lives in its report Commissioning children’s palliative care in England: 2017 edition that (1) only 35 per cent of clinical commissioning groups are implementing HM Government’s guidance set out in Our Commitment to You for End of Life Care, and (2) that 46 per cent have no plans to do so; and whether they intend to conduct a review into how implementation levels can be improved and made consistent throughout England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
In July 2016, the Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent What’s important to me. A Review of Choice in End of Life Care. A copy of the Review is attached. Our Commitment to you for end of life care: The Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care (the Choice Commitment) set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality and personalisation a reality for all, both adults and children, and to end variation in end of life care across the health system by 2020. A copy of the Government Response is attached. On 21 September 2017 we published One year on: the government response to the review of choice in end of life care setting out the good progress made in delivering this over the first year. A copy is attached.
Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to deliver the Choice Commitment, and working through NHS England’s National Programme Board for End of life Care with all key system partners and stakeholders, including Together for Short Lives (TFSL), a range of activity is ongoing to achieve this. It is right that clinical commissioning groups have autonomy to shape services locally, and it is important that, where needed, more is done to provide them with tools, evidence, support and guidance to demonstrate the benefits of delivering the Government’s vision for end of life care. NHS England, Public Health England and the Ambitions Partnership (comprising national organisations across the statutory and voluntary sectors, including TFSL) have provided a wealth of support over the first year, including: currencies to improve transparency in specialist palliative commissioning; new guidance on cost effective commissioning; data about end of life care to assist Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) as they develop their plans for services; and seven evaluations of different approaches to 24/7 models of care.
Early in 2017, NHS England will be holding workshops with a range of STP leads to provide practical advice and support on developing effective end of life care services and demonstrating the value they can bring. In addition, TFSL has been commissioned by NHS England to promote the adoption of best practice approaches to children’s that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and report back on barriers to implementation locally.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to commission a review into the consistency of regional commissioning of services families with children in need of palliative care.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
In July 2016, the Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent What’s important to me. A Review of Choice in End of Life Care. A copy of the Review is attached. Our Commitment to you for end of life care: The Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care (the Choice Commitment) set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality and personalisation a reality for all, both adults and children, and to end variation in end of life care across the health system by 2020. A copy of the Government Response is attached. On 21 September 2017 we published One year on: the government response to the review of choice in end of life care setting out the good progress made in delivering this over the first year. A copy is attached.
Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to deliver the Choice Commitment, and working through NHS England’s National Programme Board for End of life Care with all key system partners and stakeholders, including Together for Short Lives (TFSL), a range of activity is ongoing to achieve this. It is right that clinical commissioning groups have autonomy to shape services locally, and it is important that, where needed, more is done to provide them with tools, evidence, support and guidance to demonstrate the benefits of delivering the Government’s vision for end of life care. NHS England, Public Health England and the Ambitions Partnership (comprising national organisations across the statutory and voluntary sectors, including TFSL) have provided a wealth of support over the first year, including: currencies to improve transparency in specialist palliative commissioning; new guidance on cost effective commissioning; data about end of life care to assist Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STP) as they develop their plans for services; and seven evaluations of different approaches to 24/7 models of care.
Early in 2017, NHS England will be holding workshops with a range of STP leads to provide practical advice and support on developing effective end of life care services and demonstrating the value they can bring. In addition, TFSL has been commissioned by NHS England to promote the adoption of best practice approaches to children’s that are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and report back on barriers to implementation locally.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what financial and other support his Department makes available to recently bereaved carers.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Bereavement care is a key part of the provision of good end of life care. In July 2016, the Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care. ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’ set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality and personalisation a reality for all and to end variation in end of life care across the health system by 2020.
Bereaved families and carers should have access to information and support as set out in the commitment, including bereavement care, appropriate to their circumstances. This information may also be included in their carer’s assessment where there is an appearance of need as stated under the Care Act 2014.
In addition, for those claiming Carer’s Allowance, entitlement can continue for up to eight weeks following the death of the disabled person who was being cared for. This eight-week run-on helps carers who have recently been bereaved by giving them some time to adapt to their new circumstances and make plans for their future.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on palliative care in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has made no specific assessment of local palliative services care in England. As system leader, NHS England is responsible for securing the provision of high quality care for patients at the end of life, and as with the vast majority of NHS services, the commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility.
CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly, and as such, decisions to increase palliative care service provision are for the local, not the national, National Health Service. NHS England works to support local commissioners in improving the services they provide, including palliative care, and has recently collaborated with Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission to provide bespoke end of life care support to Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, include Hampshire and Isle of Wight. A copy of the support pack is attached.
Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or does not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the average cost and average time for treating a terminally ill person and figures for the number of patients offered end of life care in the home are not available.
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you’ for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. The commitment sets out that by 2020 we want to significantly improve patient choice, including ensuring an increase in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice, including at home. A progress report on delivery of the commitment was published on 21 September 2017.
A key tool in measuring choice and quality in end of life care is the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey, which collects the views of bereaved family and friends about the care received by the person they were caring for at the end of life. The survey does provide some information about preferences for care at the end of life, including place of death. The Government Choice Commitment; progress report on the Choice Commitment; and latest VOICES survey report can be found at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost is of treating a terminally ill person.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has made no specific assessment of local palliative services care in England. As system leader, NHS England is responsible for securing the provision of high quality care for patients at the end of life, and as with the vast majority of NHS services, the commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility.
CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly, and as such, decisions to increase palliative care service provision are for the local, not the national, National Health Service. NHS England works to support local commissioners in improving the services they provide, including palliative care, and has recently collaborated with Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission to provide bespoke end of life care support to Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, include Hampshire and Isle of Wight. A copy of the support pack is attached.
Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or does not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the average cost and average time for treating a terminally ill person and figures for the number of patients offered end of life care in the home are not available.
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you’ for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. The commitment sets out that by 2020 we want to significantly improve patient choice, including ensuring an increase in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice, including at home. A progress report on delivery of the commitment was published on 21 September 2017.
A key tool in measuring choice and quality in end of life care is the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey, which collects the views of bereaved family and friends about the care received by the person they were caring for at the end of life. The survey does provide some information about preferences for care at the end of life, including place of death. The Government Choice Commitment; progress report on the Choice Commitment; and latest VOICES survey report can be found at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time is for which a terminally ill person receives palliative care.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has made no specific assessment of local palliative services care in England. As system leader, NHS England is responsible for securing the provision of high quality care for patients at the end of life, and as with the vast majority of NHS services, the commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility.
CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly, and as such, decisions to increase palliative care service provision are for the local, not the national, National Health Service. NHS England works to support local commissioners in improving the services they provide, including palliative care, and has recently collaborated with Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission to provide bespoke end of life care support to Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, include Hampshire and Isle of Wight. A copy of the support pack is attached.
Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or does not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the average cost and average time for treating a terminally ill person and figures for the number of patients offered end of life care in the home are not available.
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you’ for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. The commitment sets out that by 2020 we want to significantly improve patient choice, including ensuring an increase in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice, including at home. A progress report on delivery of the commitment was published on 21 September 2017.
A key tool in measuring choice and quality in end of life care is the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey, which collects the views of bereaved family and friends about the care received by the person they were caring for at the end of life. The survey does provide some information about preferences for care at the end of life, including place of death. The Government Choice Commitment; progress report on the Choice Commitment; and latest VOICES survey report can be found at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many terminally ill people were offered end-of-life care in their own homes in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has made no specific assessment of local palliative services care in England. As system leader, NHS England is responsible for securing the provision of high quality care for patients at the end of life, and as with the vast majority of NHS services, the commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility.
CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly, and as such, decisions to increase palliative care service provision are for the local, not the national, National Health Service. NHS England works to support local commissioners in improving the services they provide, including palliative care, and has recently collaborated with Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission to provide bespoke end of life care support to Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, include Hampshire and Isle of Wight. A copy of the support pack is attached.
Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or does not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the average cost and average time for treating a terminally ill person and figures for the number of patients offered end of life care in the home are not available.
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you’ for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. The commitment sets out that by 2020 we want to significantly improve patient choice, including ensuring an increase in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice, including at home. A progress report on delivery of the commitment was published on 21 September 2017.
A key tool in measuring choice and quality in end of life care is the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey, which collects the views of bereaved family and friends about the care received by the person they were caring for at the end of life. The survey does provide some information about preferences for care at the end of life, including place of death. The Government Choice Commitment; progress report on the Choice Commitment; and latest VOICES survey report can be found at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to increase the provision of specialist palliative care in (a) Southampton, (b) the South East and (c) England.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has made no specific assessment of local palliative services care in England. As system leader, NHS England is responsible for securing the provision of high quality care for patients at the end of life, and as with the vast majority of NHS services, the commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility.
CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly, and as such, decisions to increase palliative care service provision are for the local, not the national, National Health Service. NHS England works to support local commissioners in improving the services they provide, including palliative care, and has recently collaborated with Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission to provide bespoke end of life care support to Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, include Hampshire and Isle of Wight. A copy of the support pack is attached.
Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or does not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the average cost and average time for treating a terminally ill person and figures for the number of patients offered end of life care in the home are not available.
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you’ for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. The commitment sets out that by 2020 we want to significantly improve patient choice, including ensuring an increase in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice, including at home. A progress report on delivery of the commitment was published on 21 September 2017.
A key tool in measuring choice and quality in end of life care is the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey, which collects the views of bereaved family and friends about the care received by the person they were caring for at the end of life. The survey does provide some information about preferences for care at the end of life, including place of death. The Government Choice Commitment; progress report on the Choice Commitment; and latest VOICES survey report can be found at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of palliative care available in England; and what change in that level he estimates will occur by 2020.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department has made no specific assessment of local palliative services care in England. As system leader, NHS England is responsible for securing the provision of high quality care for patients at the end of life, and as with the vast majority of NHS services, the commissioning of palliative and end of life care is a local matter, over which individual clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility.
CCGs are best placed to understand the needs of local populations and commission services to meet those needs accordingly, and as such, decisions to increase palliative care service provision are for the local, not the national, National Health Service. NHS England works to support local commissioners in improving the services they provide, including palliative care, and has recently collaborated with Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission to provide bespoke end of life care support to Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, include Hampshire and Isle of Wight. A copy of the support pack is attached.
Much of the palliative care patients receive will be provided either in outpatient or community settings, by nurses, community teams or general practitioners as part of general NHS services provision, rather than as an identified palliative care service. In such services, data are either not available or does not identify palliative treatment. In addition, social and voluntary sector organisations can provide additional support to patients and the end of life. Therefore, figures for the average cost and average time for treating a terminally ill person and figures for the number of patients offered end of life care in the home are not available.
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you’ for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. The commitment sets out that by 2020 we want to significantly improve patient choice, including ensuring an increase in the number of people able to die in the place of their choice, including at home. A progress report on delivery of the commitment was published on 21 September 2017.
A key tool in measuring choice and quality in end of life care is the National Survey of Bereaved People (VOICES) survey, which collects the views of bereaved family and friends about the care received by the person they were caring for at the end of life. The survey does provide some information about preferences for care at the end of life, including place of death. The Government Choice Commitment; progress report on the Choice Commitment; and latest VOICES survey report can be found at the following links:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to improve palliative care in the NHS; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone. This Commitment includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’ is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Over the last 12 months the National End of Life Care Programme Board has been taking forward implementation. All relevant arm’s length bodies and key charitable partners are represented on the Board to ensure system wide action and accountability. We are aiming to publish a progress report on the delivery of the Commitment this summer.