A report from MPs on Assisted Dying has led to calls for government intervention to improve palliative and end of life care. The cross-party Health and Social Care Committee report described end-of-life care in the UK as ‘patchy’ uneven and inequitable across different communities of the UK, after taking 68,000 responses from the public and stakeholder organisations. Hospice UK, one of the organisations consulted, called for standardising and strengthening palliative care services.‘Universal appropriate and adequate palliative care for all must be the priority,’ said the charity’s CEO, Toby Porter
While the UK is a world leader in palliative and end-of-life care, the report concluded provision and access was patchy. The report has made recommendations for the government, which include, universal coverage of palliative and end-of-life services, commitment to any hospices which require funding assistance and new guidance for doctors responding to requests for medical reports for applicants seeking AD/AS abroad.
At the end of last year, a Nuffield Health study found that there has been an increasing trend in emergency hospital admissions of patients in the last year of their life. The NHS Long Term Plan did include a roll out of personalised care for those in the last year of their life, however so far, the trend hasn’t changed. Mr Porter from Hospice UK noted that demand for palliative and end of life care will also rise with the UK’s aging population. ‘By 2040 the numbers of people dying in the UK compared with today will have risen by an estimated 123,000,’ he said. ‘We welcome that the report highlights the need for the Government to ensure that hospice and other palliative and end of life care services are strengthened.’
The report will inform future debates on end-of-life care and assisted suicide, which is evolving all the time through pressure from high-profile campaigners. But Mr Porter stressed the importance of keeping those working in palliative care central to the discourse. ‘The tens of thousands of people who work and volunteer every day in the UK’s 200+ hospices likely see and think more closely about death and dying than any other constituency in the UK,’ Mr Porter said. ‘And it will remain vital that these experiences and observations are considered in the societal discussions.’