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

No estimate has been made of the cost to the public purse of providing a universal palliative care service. It is difficult to quantify the total provision of, or spend on, palliative and end of life care at either a national or local integrated care board (ICB) level in England, because it is delivered every day by a wide range of specialist and generalist health and care workers in multiple settings, including in primary care, community care, in hospitals, in hospices, in care homes, and in people’s own homes. So not all palliative and end of life care will be recorded or coded as such.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an ICB must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications. We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.

The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure that patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift.