Statement on publication of Public Accounts Committee report: ‘End of Life Care’

Help the Hospices, the leading charity representing and supporting hospice care throughout the UK, welcomes the Public Accounts Committee report on care at the end of life, which was published today (Thursday May 14).

The report follows the publication of the government’s first ever End of Life Care Strategy for England, last year (July 2008).

David Praill, chief executive of Help the Hospices, commented:

“We welcome this report and the Committee’s recommendations that it makes to improving end of life care in England. Many important points have been highlighted, particularly around the need for more support for services to enable people, where possible, to be cared for and to die in the place of their choosing. The majority of hospice care is provided by local charities in people's own homes, and the chances of dying in your preferred location increases if you are being cared for by a local hospice. However, this opportunity and flexibility of choice is not available to all who need it.”

Other comments on the Report’s recommendations:

• It is vital that Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) account for how they intend to spend the additional £286 million which has been allocated for palliative care by the End of Life Care Strategy. We need to make sure that the investment gets through to the services on the ground. Our members need reassurance on this.

• Some 70% of our members have only one-year contracts with the NHS and 97% of the funding they receive does not fully cover the costs of the services they provide for the NHS. The Committee also recommends that PCTs should put in place three-year rolling contracts to enable hospices to better plan their use of resources and develop their services. These contracts should cover the costs of the services provided for the NHS, including relevant overheads.

• Hospices should be commissioned to provide wider support, eg training of care home staff looking after older people, and outreach services to improve the quality of care for more people in the last year of life.

• While the majority of hospice patients have cancer, the number of hospice services caring for people with other diseases is increasing and it is vital that this trend is supported to ensure care for all people facing the end of life, whatever their illness or circumstances.

David Praill added:

“It is early days in terms of the government’s End of Life Care Strategy – a 10 year strategy and we are not yet at the end of year one – and there is much, much more to be done. We hope that the government will respond positively to the recommendations.”

 

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