Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage at risk patients to consider advanced planning of end of life care.

Our ambition is for everyone approaching the end of life to receive high quality care that reflects their individual needs, choices and preferences.

On 5 July, we set out our plans to improve end of life care in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care, including a commitment to develop and document a personalised care plan, based on what matters to you and your needs and preferences, including any advance decisions and your views about where you want to be cared for and where you want to die, and to review and revise this plan throughout the duration of your illness.

To support delivery, NHS England is working with two New Care Model sites of Airedale and Southend to test an innovative approach to ‘serious illness conversations’ in which clinicians are trained to support people with serious illnesses to discuss what is important to them, treating these discussions as a clinical intervention which delivers patient-centred care. NHS England has also commissioned the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) to develop an educational film to prepare people with advanced diseases and long term conditions for consultations with clinicians, which will be released in November.

The Department and NHS England are working with voluntary sector partners to raise general public awareness of issues around death and dying and the importance of Advance Care Planning. The Department and NHS England support the Dying Matters Coalition, which promotes a national conversation around death and dying. NHS England will also lead a public facing campaign to promote choice and personalisation in end of life care which will be supported by voluntary sector partners, in particular the NCPC, who have been commissioned to lead a piece of work promoting the benefits of Advance Care Planning and the sharing of these records with relevant professionals.