Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the proposals made in each Sustainability and Transformation Plan regarding end of life care; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone by 2020. Over the last 12 months the National End of Life Care Programme Board has been taking forward implementation, and we are aiming to publish a progress report on the delivery of the Commitment this summer. This progress report will also set out the work being undertaken by the Programme Board to engage local Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships to support service planning for end of life of care and to embed choice. ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’ can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536326/choice-response.pdf
Information regarding the proportion of people with access to advance care planning in advance of their death is not collected. However, the Government commitment also set out plans to will work with voluntary sector partners to raise public awareness nationally of issues around death and dying and the importance of enabling individuals to make end of life care plans in advance. NHS England contributed funding to the Dying Matters campaign in 2016/17 and also promoted Dying Matters Week via the National End of Life Care Programme Board and through the National Palliative and End of Life Care Network.
We know there are inequities in terms of access to, and experience of, end of life care for lower socio-economic groups. Public Health England’s National End of Life Care Intelligence Network has published ‘What we know data’ reports that have linked lower socioeconomic status to lower rates of home death. That is why the ‘Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care, a national framework for local action’, includes ‘fair access to care’ as one of the six Ambitions. The framework was developed and signed up to by over 27 partners from across the system and the Government is supportive of its work. The Public Health England reports and information about the Ambitions Framework and the partnership can be found at the following links:
www.endoflifecare-intelligence.org.uk/resources/publications/
http://endoflifecareambitions.org.uk/
Asked by: Nic Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the recommendations in the Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care will be implemented by 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
On 5 July 2016 we published ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality, personalised care a reality for everyone by 2020. Over the last 12 months the National End of Life Care Programme Board has been taking forward implementation, and we are aiming to publish a progress report on the delivery of the Commitment this summer. This progress report will also set out the work being undertaken by the Programme Board to engage local Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships to support service planning for end of life of care and to embed choice. ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care’ can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/536326/choice-response.pdf
Information regarding the proportion of people with access to advance care planning in advance of their death is not collected. However, the Government commitment also set out plans to will work with voluntary sector partners to raise public awareness nationally of issues around death and dying and the importance of enabling individuals to make end of life care plans in advance. NHS England contributed funding to the Dying Matters campaign in 2016/17 and also promoted Dying Matters Week via the National End of Life Care Programme Board and through the National Palliative and End of Life Care Network.
We know there are inequities in terms of access to, and experience of, end of life care for lower socio-economic groups. Public Health England’s National End of Life Care Intelligence Network has published ‘What we know data’ reports that have linked lower socioeconomic status to lower rates of home death. That is why the ‘Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care, a national framework for local action’, includes ‘fair access to care’ as one of the six Ambitions. The framework was developed and signed up to by over 27 partners from across the system and the Government is supportive of its work. The Public Health England reports and information about the Ambitions Framework and the partnership can be found at the following links:
www.endoflifecare-intelligence.org.uk/resources/publications/
http://endoflifecareambitions.org.uk/
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve end of life care for (a) adults and (b) children; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
On 5 July 2016 we published Our Commitment to you for end of life care, which set out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life and the actions we are taking to make high quality and personalisation in care a reality for everyone, both adults and children. This Commitment includes measures to enable personalisation, measures to improve care quality and education and training in end of life care and measures to encourage the spread of innovative models of care. This includes enabling greater use of advance care planning and electronic care records to record people’s choices and preferences, and building services around people’s needs and preferences. Our Commitment to you for end of life care is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/choice-in-end-of-life-care-government-response
Over the last 12 months the National End of Life Care Programme Board has been taking forward implementation. All relevant arm’s-length bodies and key charitable partners are represented on the Board to ensure system wide action and accountability. We are aiming to publish a progress report on the delivery of the Commitment this summer.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that palliative care is accessible to all people who need it.
Answered by David Mowat
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 2016, we set out our commitment to end of life care in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care. In 2016, the National End of Life Care Programme Board, chaired by Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England Medical Director, was set up to oversee the implementation of the commitment.
The commitments in the response will address the unacceptable variation in access to end of life care and the quality of care. They will put in place improvements in all settings where end of life care is delivered, including in hospital, in a care home, or at home, and improve access to specialist palliative care advice through urgent and emergency care clinical hubs.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to encourage leaders of local health and care systems to work together with local services to deliver good-quality end of life care for LGBT and other people.
Answered by David Mowat
Our ambition is for everyone approaching the end of life to receive high quality care that reflects their individual needs, choices and preferences. The Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care. To fulfil the pledge in the response to support local leaders to prioritise and improve care, the Government is writing to Health and Wellbeing Boards to remind them of their duty to end of life care.
The NHS England End of Life Care Programme Team have scheduled a webinar on inequalities, featuring Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues, aimed at health and care staff, providers, and commissioners in February 2017. NHS England is also a member of the ‘Ambitions partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care’, a national partnership of 27 statutory and non-statutory organisations who published the ‘Ambitions framework: National framework for local action’ in 2015. The framework centres on six Ambitions, underpinned by a number of building blocks which need to be in place for high quality palliative and end of life care to be a reality. The second of the six Ambitions is “Each person gets fair access to care” which focuses on eliminating inequality. The Ambitions Partnership has undertaken a ‘deep dive’ discussion on inequalities, which included a specific discussion on issues for LGBT people, and are planning a follow up discussion.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve palliative and end-of-life care for LGBT people.
Answered by David Mowat
Our ambition is for everyone approaching the end of life to receive high quality care that reflects their individual needs, choices and preferences. The Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care. To fulfil the pledge in the response to support local leaders to prioritise and improve care, the Government is writing to Health and Wellbeing Boards to remind them of their duty to end of life care.
The NHS England End of Life Care Programme Team have scheduled a webinar on inequalities, featuring Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues, aimed at health and care staff, providers, and commissioners in February 2017. NHS England is also a member of the ‘Ambitions partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care’, a national partnership of 27 statutory and non-statutory organisations who published the ‘Ambitions framework: National framework for local action’ in 2015. The framework centres on six Ambitions, underpinned by a number of building blocks which need to be in place for high quality palliative and end of life care to be a reality. The second of the six Ambitions is “Each person gets fair access to care” which focuses on eliminating inequality. The Ambitions Partnership has undertaken a ‘deep dive’ discussion on inequalities, which included a specific discussion on issues for LGBT people, and are planning a follow up discussion.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
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 support terminally ill children and their families.
Answered by David Mowat
The Government believes that every person nearing the end of their life should expect a good death and attentive, dignified and compassionate care.
Our publication ‘Our Commitment to you for end of life care: the Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care (July 2016)’ sets out what everyone should expect from their care at the end of life. There are a number of commitments in relation to children and young people. The Department expects to publish its implementation plan online shortly. We will monitor implementation closely and report on progress in summer 2017 to mark one year on from the publication of the Government response.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to contribute more funding to palliative care organisations.
Answered by David Mowat
The Government set out its commitment to everyone at the end of life in the Government response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care and pledged to support local leaders to prioritise and improve end of life care.
Levels of National Health Service funded hospice care provision are determined locally by clinical commissioning groups, and they are responsible for ensuring that the services they commission meet the needs of their local population. Commissioners should identify any gaps in local provision and put in place service development plans to address this identified need. NHS England is developing a per-patient funding system for palliative care, which will support greater quality and choice in end of life care. The aim has been to ensure that palliative care in all settings, including hospices, is funded fairly and transparently.
The Government also promotes the National Palliative and End of Life Care Partnership’s Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: a national framework for local action 2015-2010 which sets out six ‘ambitions’ for local delivery of end of life care. The Partnership encourages Health and Wellbeing Boards, chaired by local authority members, to apply the Ambitions Framework to their local area to ensure everyone receives high quality, compassionate and personalised care.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the charitable and third sectors on ensuring that the expertise from those sectors informs the planning of the end of life care undertaken by professionals.
Answered by David Mowat
In 2014, the Government commissioned the Choice in End of Life Care Programme Board to provide advice on improving the quality and experience of adults at the end of life. The Board included representatives from leading charities concerned with end of life care including Hospice UK, the National Council for Palliative Care (NCPC) and Marie Curie.
On 5 July, the Government set out their plans to improve end of life care in England in their response to their recommendations after extensive engagement with the third sector. The plan set out the Government’s commitment to everyone at the end of life, and the actions the Department, NHS England and other arm’s length bodies will take to fulfil the commitment.
Implementation of the response is being led by the National End of Life Care Programme Board, chaired by Bruce Keogh. NCPC and two members of the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care Partnership are included on the Board to scrutinise implementation and provide their expertise on end of life care.
Going forward the Government, NHS England and other arm’s length bodies continue to extensively engage and collaborate with the third sector. Currently Health Education England is consulting with the end of life care community, including charities and the third sector, on the development of a refreshed core competency framework to standardise end of life care training.
Asked by: Karen Lumley (Conservative - Redditch)
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.
Answered by David Mowat
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.