Welcome
David Praill
“The challenge of small is beautiful in a world which celebrates the large”
In our 25th anniversary year, he announced a publication to celebrate our grant making role and the analysis of the minimum data sets relating to our member hospices.
Presentations
Professor Paul Hunt, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to highest attainable standard of health (2002 to 08), proposed that the right to health encompasses palliative care.
The right to the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental human right recognised in treaties and constitutions. The right to health approach to palliative care, Paul suggested, is a tool we can all use to reduce avoidable pain and suffering. There is a shared responsibility between state and non-state bodies, and went on to outline that as a minimum, countries should have in place:
- an understanding of current palliative care provision
- an up to date palliative care policy and action plan
- indicators and benchmarks to measure progress
- outreach programmes for disadvantaged people
- accessible medication
- palliative education for health care professionals and carers
- palliative care at all levels of health care
- independent evaluation.
He challenged non-state bodies to use this approach to address the unacceptable truth that millions of people do not access the hospice or palliative care that they need.
