Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework remains scheduled for publication in 2026; what factors have affected its publication date; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the timetable for publication on the financial sustainability, workforce planning and long-term service provision of hospices.

We will publish an interim update on the Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care shortly. The final MSF will be published this autumn, to allow comprehensive engagement with sector stakeholders.

The MSF will provide a clinically-led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvement in patient and carer outcomes, including reducing both inequality and unwarranted variation. The MSF will also provide the framework against which palliative care and end-of-life care will be improved across all settings, including hospital and community, through neighbourhoods. Areas of action will be identified for those commissioning and delivering services with associated performance and outcome metrics to support system accountability.

As part of the MSF, we will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements. The MSF will seek to embed palliative care and end-of-life care within a strategic commissioning model that is centred on population need. Integrated care boards (ICBs) will be directed to move to sustainable contracting of hospice and other services based on population needs assessments. Further direction to ICBs will be set out in the MSF interim update.

We have been engaging with a range of stakeholders, from approximately 70 organisations, to inform the MSF’s development. This includes the Ambitions Partnership and organisations representing the hospice sector. As there are approximately 170 adult and 40 children’s hospice in England, we have asked independent hospice stakeholders to engage via their membership organisations, Hospice UK and Together for Short Lives. We are also undertaking engagement with integrated care systems through National Health Service regional teams.

Department and NHS England officials will continue to engage closely with stakeholders on the development of the final MSF. Future opportunities for stakeholder engagement will be communicated via our regional NHS England teams, NHS Alliance, and Ambitions Partnership.

We have supported the hospice sector in England with a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children and young people’s hospices to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.