Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide patients with access to palliative care specialists when patients receive life-limiting or terminal diagnoses.

Not all patients will require specialist palliative care when they receive a life-limiting diagnosis. To ensure the health and social care workforce, including volunteers, are equipped and well- supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, hosts the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme. This training includes the module ’Breaking Bad News’.

Following identification of an individual likely to be in the last 12 months of life, it is recommended best practice that the individual is offered a personalised care and support plan and advance care plan to identify and address needs, preferences and wishes, including where specialist level palliative care may be of benefit.