The Commission on Palliative and End of Life Care will seek to identify the current strengths and significant shortfalls in provision and the barriers that exist in the current systems of such care. It will look at the relationship between specialist palliative care services and generalist services.
Following the analysis of research and evidence gathered by the Commission, a report will be written to present to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Members of the Houses of Commons and Lords, and service commissioners, and will be available for providers, clinicians and the public.
Definition of Palliative Care
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines palliative care as an approach that improves the quality of life of individuals and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illness. It is based on a comprehensive and person-centred approach, addressing physical, psychological, social, and spiritual suffering. Palliative care aims to prevent and relieve health-related suffering and provides support to patients and their caregivers.
This normally is viewed as applying to the probable last year of life.
Specialists in palliative care can meet the person’s complex needs – physical, psychological, social, religious and/or spiritual – that their core team cannot alone. They work as part of multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), providing the service directly to the person and those important to them and/or supporting others to do so.
The main components of specialist palliative care services are:
• specialist knowledge (specialist consultant and specialist nursing services as a minimum) to assess and manage physical, psychological, social, religious and spiritual needs to reduce symptoms, suffering and distress
• supporting analysis of complex clinical decision-making challenges where medical and personal interests are finely balanced by applying relevant ethical and legal reasoning alongside clinical assessment
• providing specialist advice, support, education and training to the wider care team who are providing direct core level palliative care to the person.
Call for Written Evidence
Closing Date for Submissions is Friday 28th March 2025
Our Supporters
Call for Written Evidence
The Commission would like to hear from the widest possible community.
Closing date for receipt of
written submissions is Friday 28th March 2025.