Written question asked by Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 22 September 2026. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Wednesday, 16 September 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Palliative Care

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a national standard requiring every integrated care system to demonstrate that people receiving palliative and end-of life care can obtain timely clinical assessment, appropriate medication and specialist intervention 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Answer

The Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board is working with the Cheshire and Merseyside Hospice Collaborative to develop a longer-term sustainability strategy, aligned to a wider, population needs-based commissioning strategy.

More widely, we are developing a modern service framework for palliative care and end-of-Life care to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care. The modern service framework will cover both generalist and specialist palliative care, and 24/7 provision will be considered as part of the interventions. Further metrics and associated targets will build on the 2029 ambitions set out in the Neighbourhood Health Framework, which include increasing the number of people identified as approaching the end of life by 10% and reducing non-elective admissions and hospital bed days by 10% for that cohort.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL3279
Session: 2026-27
Grouped for answer: Yes
Subjects: Palliative care Standards
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

Palliative Care

Secondary information

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