Good progress has been made in improving end of life care, but more needs to be done to make sure everyone gets the highest quality of care, in the setting of their choice.
That is the conclusion of Care Services Minister Paul Burstow as he received the Second Annual Report on the End of Life Care Strategy published today.
Key areas of progress highlighted in the report include:
* the allocation of a £40 million capital grant for hospices to allow them to improve the environment in which they provide care;
* the launch of e-learning on end of life care for health and social care staff;
* the launch of the Dying Matters Coalition to raise public awareness of issues around death, dying and bereavement;
* the establishment of end of life care locality register pilots to improve co-ordination of care;
* the pilot project to inform a national survey of bereaved relatives (VOICES) which will be launched this summer; and
* the launch of the National End of Life Care Intelligence Network.
Further action in the coming year will include:
* The National End of Life Care Programme will do more work on when the end of life pathway should start for people with progressive disease, focussing on individuals with COPD/respiratory disease and neurological conditions. The Cancer Survivorship programme will address the same question for cancer patients.
* The Department will continue work on ‘locality registers’ – information portals about the end of life care being provided to patients in a given area, so that essential information can be shared more easily between agencies.
* The Department will complete the three foundation projects on e-learning, core competences and communication skills training to develop and support staff.
* The National End of Life Care Intelligence Network will identify and share valuable evidence and information to assist in the improvement of services.
* The National Programme will also implement its communications strategy on end of life care.
The second Annual Report on the Department of Health’s End of Life Care Strategy can be found at: For further information
