Published: 18 July 2008
End of Life Care Strategy
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has launched the End of Life Care Strategy, backed with £286m to provide high quality care for all adults approaching the end of their life.
It will help more people to die in the setting they choose, mainly at home surrounded by loved ones.
The government claims this will mean that, by 2011, the government will have met the 2005 manifesto commitment to double the investment in palliative care (but is doubling the budget sufficient with an aging population?)
It will mean better quality care for patients by making it easier for individuals to bring about their own preferences around end of life care; promoting dignity and respect, properly co-ordinating services and supporting carers.
The new ten year strategy is intended to build on the progress made in developing end of life care services since 2000.
Areas it will particularly focus on include:
· Improved community services - asking PCTs, working with Local Authorities, to ensure that rapid response community nursing services are available in all areas 24/7. This will enable more people to be cared for and die at home if they wish
· Workforce training and development - to train health and social care professionals in assessing the needs of patients & carers and providing the best possible quality care
· Development of specialist palliative care outreach services – the government will encourage PCTs and hospices to work together to develop specialist services in the community, which will support all adults regardless of their condition
· Setting up a national End of Life Research initiative - to further understand how best to care for those at the end of their lives
· Quality Standards - we will work with SHA Next Stage Review End of Life Care leads to develop quality standards against which PCTs and providers can assess themselves and be assessed by regulators
Lord Darzi's Next Stage Review focused on End of Life Care as one of its key pathways, and this strategy follows on from the Review, helping to make that commitment a reality.
Launching the strategy Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, said:
"People coming to the end of their lives and their loved ones deserve high quality, compassionate and dignified care, on their own terms. This strategy will help make that happen.
We have already made £40m available to hospices to improve environments and provide greater dignity for patients, and we recently invested £4.5m to help build a Marie Curie state of the art hospice in the West Midlands.
Now this increased funding will continue momentum for improvement and help make sure that everyone gets access to high quality palliative care and has choice about where that care takes place."
Supporting the new Strategy, Hugh Grant, Marie Curie's Ambassador, said:
"Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has campaigned hard for the public to have the choice to die at home. I am delighted to see that the Government is now honouring its 2005 Manifesto pledge to double investment in end of life care."
Further information
End of Life Care Strategy - promoting high quality care for all adults at the end of life
The National End of Life Care Programme
Enhancing the Healing Environment Programme
Other related information
Related articles
Marie Curie delivers End of Life Care at a Local Level
Scottish Care Standards
More help for people with Dementia
Who will look after us when we are old?
Keeping Older People together in a Home of their Own
A Fairer, Clearer Long-term Care System
Funding for Care in Scotland
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