How the NHS 10-Year Plan can deliver for terminally ill people

During the recent debate on assisted dying, the need to improve palliative care was a key part of the conversation.

And at a recent Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Kier Starmer said he would invest in palliative care in the 10-Year Plan for the NHS, regardless of the result of the initial vote on the bill.

Currently, the Government is consulting with organisations on what it should focus on in the 10-Year Plan for the NHS. To ensure no one slips through the gaps when they are approaching the end of life, this is what Sue Ryder believes the Government needs to do.

1. Revamp hospital care: Develop dedicated Sue Ryder hospice wards on NHS sites to provide compassionate, tailored care for those nearing the end of life.
2. Better integrate community care: Expand care in the community through partnerships, virtual wards, and increased hospice-at-home services to help more people die at home
3. Integrate hospices with neighbourhood health infrastructure: Make full use of hospices’ expertise in supporting people with complex multi-morbidities to prevent unplanned admissions
4. Enhanced training and collaboration: Ensure healthcare professionals are able to access the right training to improve system collaboration and planning, to better support people approaching the end of life.
5. Empowering patients: Help people to record their wishes for the end of life so more of their needs are met by the people involved in their care.

Our solution for this is to create specialist Sue Ryder palliative care wards within hospitals, offering a “home-from-home” experience.

These wards will support people in their last year of life in hospitals. Patients can transfer into our Sue Ryder wards, and we will immediately free up hospital beds.

Once in our care, we can support people back into the community, helping people be in the place they most want to be – home.

For people who are at the end of life and cannot be discharged, our wards provide the “home for home” setting that people value so greatly from our hospice. The Sue Ryder wards will look and feel just like our hospices; homely, and non-clinical.

These wards do not replace existing hospices. They are, and will, remain an essential piece of the palliative care system and the heart communities across the UK.

The UK has an ageing population, which means many more people will need end-of-life care in the years to come.

Here at Sue Ryder, we want to see a new ecosystem for end-of-life care to make sure no one falls through the gap both now and in the future.

The Government must prioritise end-of-life care in the 10-Year Plan for the NHS. Sue Ryder is here and can work with them to make sure no one faces death or grief alone.