Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide end-of-life palliative care in rural areas.

Everyone should have access to high-quality, compassionate palliative care and end of life care, regardless of where they live.

In England, integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning palliative care and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations, including those in rural and remote areas. To support ICBs in meeting this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.

Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care has been recently extended for a further two years to run to the end of 2028, delivering high-quality policy research to help improve palliative care and end of life care, and tackle inequalities.

Through our modern service framework, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality.