Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the (a) availability and (b) timeliness of end-of-life palliative care support in Boston and Skegness constituency; and what steps he is taking to ensure that terminally ill patients fast-tracked due to a prognosis of fewer than 12 weeks to live receive appropriate physical and social care at home without having to wait until their final four weeks of life.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission, including Lincolnshire ICB, which covers the Boston and Skegness constituency. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations.

To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. The statutory guidance requires ICBs to work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of palliative and end of life care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

Additionally, the Lincolnshire ICB area benefits from a single palliative point of access that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week: a single phone number, facilitated by specialist palliative nurses and the urgent and emergency care clinical assessment service, through which patients, families, carers and professionals can access care that is co-ordinated and delivered locally.

NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) is a package of National Health Service-funded ongoing health and social care for adults with the highest levels of complex, intense or unpredictable needs that have arisen as a result of disability, accident or illness.

Lincolnshire ICB’s policy for fast-track CHC funding does not set out a timeframe for applications based on the number of weeks of prognosis, but it is based on the narrative within the National Framework for NHS CHC of “rapidly deteriorating and entering end phase of life”. The CHC team works seven days a week to ensure fast-track applications are processed in a timely manner.

There is a dedicated CHC End of Life Case Manager for Boston and Skegness, who ensures people’s packages of care are appropriate and meeting the needs of the individual throughout their time they are in receipt of fast-track funding. Lincolnshire ICB has a contract in place with a single provider for Boston and Skegness, which ensures packages of care are arranged and delivered in a timely manner.