UK Report: ‘Stunning inequities’ in end-of-life care
The UK’s Palliative Care Funding Review, commissioned by the new Coalition Government, was published this month. The report has been received well by health charities, an open letter was published in The Guardian: Crucial chance to improve palliative care
The report estimates that thousands of people in the UK miss out on palliative care each year. The report also highlights the inequity within the UK using figures from one primary care trust that spent approximately £186 per death while another spent £6,213.
Palliative Care Funding Review (pdf)
The Right Care and Support for Everyone
In the report, we recommend the introduction of the first per-patient funding system for palliative care in the NHS. Our proposals include the development of a palliative care tariff based on need, a funding system which incentivises good outcomes for patients, irrespective of time and setting, and providing incentives for commissioning integrated care packages which stimulate community services.
The review’s recommendations have three key aims:
- To create a fair and transparent funding system
- To deliver better outcomes for patients
- To provide better value for the NHS
Download the full report here… (pdf)
Press coverage
- BBC Radio, TODAY programme: “Absolutely no clarity’ on end-of-life care”
- BBC interviews a father: “He died where he wanted to be”
- The Independent: “New end-of-life funding plan ‘fair'”
Quality & Equity
The findings in the report might come as a surprise to some, especially if you recall the July 2010 Economist Intelligence Unit report on quality of care, where the UK was praised for have “one of the best systems for end of life care”. See our blog post: Quality of Death: Ranking End-of-Life Care Across the World
Comments are closed.
