'Palliative care is not good enough - there's no plan to fix it'

Fixing the struggling palliative care system must be an immediate priority for the government, say senior doctors, after a proposed law on assisted dying has passed to the next stage of parliament.

The Association for Palliative Medicine (APM) says there is a risk the funding needed to pay for doctors and the courts to oversee assisted dying could divert money away from care for the dying.

“The UK is often held up as having the best palliative care in the world – but that is not the case any longer. We are not getting the funding we need," said Dr Sarah Cox.

MPs voted on Friday to back changing the law in England and Wales to allow assisted dying. It is just the first parliamentary hurdle the bill needs to pass, with months more of debate and voting to come.

This week the Office for Health Economics said an increase in palliative care funding was crucial, external, with the system struggling to meet the needs of an ageing population.

At least three-quarters of people require palliative care at the end of their lives – that is around 450,000 people a year across the UK.

But a recent report by end, external-of-, externallife charity Marie Curie, external cited data showing around 100,000 go without, with half of families unhappy about the care their loved ones receive when they die. There are reports of people left in pain and with too little support.

Audits show four in 10 hospitals do not have specialist palliative care services available seven days a week.

Hospices, which provide care for around 300,000 people a year, are struggling for money. Around a third of their funding comes from the NHS, with the sector having to raise the rest themselves. A parliamentary report has described this funding system as “not fit for purpose”.

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Source: BBC News, 30 December 2024