PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Palliative Care: Staff (17 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the workforce requirements for (a) palliative and (b) end of life care; and if he will develop a workforce plan for such care.

Asked by:
Rachael Maskell (Labour)

We will want to assure ourselves that the National Health Service has access to the workforce it needs in the years ahead to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. We will need to do this in light of the 10-Year Health Plan.

Palliative and end of life care is wide-ranging, provided by generalist as well as specialist healthcare professionals, and is not disease or diagnosis specific. A large proportion of palliative and end of life care is not provided by palliative care specialists and, therefore, it is difficult to quantify the totality of the NHS workforce providing palliative and end of life care.

Answered by:
Stephen Kinnock (Labour)
25 October 2024