Charities demand palliative care reform from UK Government as assisted dying bill set to fall
Age UK, Hospice UK, Marie Curie, Sue Ryder and Together for Short Lives call for urgent action in an open letter to Wes Streeting, as nearly one in three people die without the care they need.
A coalition of the UK’s leading health and care charities has come together to warn that without urgent UK Government action, huge numbers of people each year will die without the palliative and end‑of‑life care they need.
Anticipating the fall of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the charities say the UK Government now has a moral duty to reform palliative and end‑of‑life care for everyone.
Despite months of polarising debates in Parliament about the bill, there was one consensus – that palliative and end-of-life care provision needs to be reformed.
In their open letter to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, they remind him that he too has said: “Regardless of where people stood on the debate about assisted dying, the one thing that united everyone across the House was a belief that palliative care needs to be so much better than it is today, and that is what we will work on together”.
According to recent research by end-of-life charity Marie Curie, nearly one in three people in England die without adequate care and support, equating to around 170,000 people every year, or nearly one person every three minutes.
The letter warns that without immediate intervention, the situation will deteriorate further. Demand for palliative and end-of-life care is projected to increase by around 25% by 2048, driven by an ageing population and rising levels of complex illness.
It comes as data from Hospice UK show that nearly 60% of hospices have implemented or are considering cuts to frontline services, with financial pressures forcing reductions in care despite rising demand.
The coalition is calling on the UK Government to seize this moment and commit to transformational change through the forthcoming Modern Service Framework for palliative and end‑of‑life care.
The charities are urging the UK Government to act on its own admission that palliative and end-of-life care must be improved. They are calling for the proper resourcing and provision of care to meet the growing demand and a guarantee that everyone will have access to the high‑quality care they need, around the clock, regardless of where they live.
James Sanderson, Sue Ryder's Chief Executive, says:
“It is encouraging that the Secretary of State has said that end-of-life care reform is urgently needed, but we now need to follow up on this commitment to ensure that no one faces death alone. To stop people dying with unnecessary pain or in a place they don't want to be requires bold thinking and collaboration from the Government with our sector."
"Collectively, we can reach more of the people who are currently missing out, but we need the Government to work with us to unlock that potential. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill may be concluding in Parliament, but the Government's focus on end-of-life care reform cannot die with that bill.”
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, says:
"During the passage of the Bill it became abundantly clear that we aren't where we'd like or ought to be as a country when it comes to the availability of good palliative and end of life care. As a result, many people of all ages, including lots of older ones, are spending their final weeks and days without the expert support they need to die peacefully, with dignity and with any pain they have as controlled as it is possible to achieve.
"This is a tragedy for them and for their loved ones too. Regardless of what happens next with Assisted Dying, for the sake of us all it's time to fundamentally reform and improve the provision of palliative and end of life care."
Toby Porter, CEO of Hospice UK says:
"Although this Bill will not progress, this should mark the start rather than the end of a long and important conversation about choice and dignity at the end of life in England and Wales.
"High-quality palliative and end-of-life care is essential to making a good death a reality. The focus now must be on making sure it is available to everyone who needs it.
"Throughout the debate, politicians on both sides expressed strong support for palliative care, including hospices. Yet over the period this Bill has been debated, the availability of that care has actually shrunk. Hospices are cutting services, closing beds, and struggling to meet rising demand. This cannot continue.
"We must now come together to ensure high-quality palliative and end-of-life care is available to everyone who needs it, and hospices must be properly funded, to be there for everyone who needs them."
Matthew Reed, Chief Executive at Marie Curie, says:
"While Marie Curie remains neutral on assisted dying, we welcome the way the high‑profile nature of the debate has prompted a more open public and political conversation than ever before about what constitutes a good death, and about the importance of access to palliative care.
"Dying people need clear, reliable support in place now, with certainty that the right end-of-life care will be available when and where they need it.
"With nearly one in three people missing out on adequate care and support at the end of life, we are determined to keep the spotlight firmly on palliative care. We urge parliamentarians and governments to commit to sustainable funding so everyone is guaranteed compassionate, dignified support at the end of life."
The open letter concludes that this is a critical moment for the Government to turn shared ambition into action, and to deliver the improvements in palliative and end‑of‑life care that patients, children and families urgently need.
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