Minister and NHS England to face MPs on ways to improve palliative care
Following the publication of the Independent Expert Panel’s report into the state of palliative and end of life care, the Health and Social Care Committee will question Minister Stephen Kinnock and senior NHS England officials on ways to improve services.
Meeting details
The report highlighted inadequacies in local commissioning and funding; families struggling to access information from fragmented services; issues with recruitment and retention of qualified staff; and a post code lottery, with some underserved groups experiencing particularly poor outcomes.
As well as examining these issues, the Committee is likely to press for further detail on the Government’s November announcement of a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England, due to be published in the spring.
MPs may also quiz the witnesses on topics such as strengthening social care for and its integration with acute, end of life and palliative care services.
There may also be questions about low levels of “death literacy” among the population, how hospital attendance could be reduced with better out-of-hours access to medication, and ensuring the workforce understands cultural sensitivities around death among different ethnic or religious groups.