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Palliative Care and End of life care

My Honourable Friend the Minister of State for Care (Stephen Kinnock MP) has made the following statement:

I am delighted to announce to the House today that the Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, with a planned publication date of Spring 2026. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan, which prioritises shifting care out of hospitals and into community settings to ensure personalised, compassionate support for individuals of all ages and their families.

This government recognises that there are increasing numbers of people living with multiple complex conditions, that we have an increasing ageing population and that there are tens of thousands of children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.

We acknowledge the significant challenges currently facing the sector, including:

• Delays in early identification of individuals approaching the end of life.
• Inconsistencies in commissioning practices across integrated care boards (ICBs).
• Workforce challenges in both universal and specialist services.
• Gaps in 24/7 palliative care provision.
• Limited uptake and integration of personalised care and support planning, including advance care planning.

In recognition of these challenges, we are prioritising this cohort, as referenced in NHS England's Medium Term Planning Framework, which commits to an immediate focus on reducing unnecessary non-elective admissions and bed days from high-priority cohorts, including those at the end of life.

A Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework will drive improvements and enable ICBs to address these challenges through the delivery of high-quality, high-value, personalised and equitable care.

Consequently, the Modern Service Framework will put in place a clear and effective mechanism to deliver a fundamental improvement to the care provided. This will enable adoption of evidence-based interventions that are proven to make a difference to patients and their families. Examples include earlier identification of need, care delivered closer to home by integrated generalist and specialist teams and strengthened out-of-hours community health support, including dedicated telephone advice.

We have already begun to engage with sector stakeholders on how to improve access, quality and sustainability in palliative care and end of life care and will continue to engage with them to shape and deliver this vision. We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life, and we recognise that access to high-quality, personalised palliative care and end of life care can make all the difference to patients and their loved ones.