Palliative and End-of-Life Care by Integration Authorities: advice note

Why Palliative and End of Life Care Matters

There are many reasons for having a focus on palliative and end of life care services and supports.

• Getting health and social care right for people is a vital aspect of Partnerships’ role in planning, commissioning and delivery, and this is especially important towards and at the end of life. When we do get it right it is typically by working with everyone involved to provide holistic, multi-disciplinary and personalised care and support .
• There is also emerging evidence that people provided with early palliative care and support in all settings had better outcomes, with a better quality of life, fewer depressive symptoms, and on average live longer, even when opting less for curative (and often futile) treatment ^[4] . Effective support at end of life and investment in supporting people in all settings, but especially at home, can have a beneficial impact on balance of care indicators, the quality of care, achieving place of death, as well as preventing unwarranted hospital admission ^[5] .
• In an era of Realistic Medicine ^[6] and realistic care, this area of work should be at the forefront of a new approach to person-centred decision making, based on the core question ‘What matters to you?’ - and then staying loyal to the agenda the person sets. ^[7]