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£1.8 million for fairer funding for end of life care
20/03/2012
By Daniel Hunter
More people should be able to spend their final days in a place of their choice and new Government funding will help to make this happen, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced today (Tuesday).
The current system of end of life care does not work well enough. Some patients and their families receive excellent care and excellent support while others miss out. NHS funding for palliative care services is often poorly distributed and varies greatly around the country.
A new fairer funding system is needed but essential information needed to develop a system doesn’t exist. Eight pilots sites — with a share of £1.8 million will collect this vital information and help the Government meet its aim of having a new per-patient funding system for both adult and children’s palliative care services.
Seven new adult pilot sites will each receive an extra £200,000 and a children and young persons pilot will receive £400,000.
The Government wants to create a fairer system, which supports people to be cared for in the setting of their choice and enables end of life care to reach all in local communities who need it.
“It is most important to us that both children and adults, their families and carers get the right care and support at the end of their lives. This includes being able to make choices about where they are cared for, including at the end of their life," Andrew Lansley said, speaking at a Marie Curie event.
“A fair funding system will enable us to ensure that this support is available. It will ensure all qualified providers of end of life care, whether they be statutory, voluntary or independent, are fairly funded. The pilots will have an essential role in helping us in this work.”
The seven adult pilots selected to help with this essential work are being... continued on page two >
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