Future of palliative care
There will be a debate on the future of palliative care in the Commons chamber on Thursday 5 March 2026. This topic has been selected by the backbench business committee. The debate will be opened by Rachael Maskell MP.
The World Health Organization defines palliative care as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients – adults and children – and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness.” Palliative care provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms and offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death.
End of life care is a form of palliative care for those in the final year of life.
Palliative and end of life care can be received in a number of settings, including a person’s own home, in a care home, a hospital or a hospice. Further information is available on the NHS page ‘Deciding where you have end of life care.’
Palliative and end of life care servicesUnder section 21 of the Health and Care Act 2022, integrated care boards (ICBs) in England are under a statutory duty to commission healthcare services, including palliative care, to meet the needs of their local population. ICBs receive a general funding allocation from NHS England to deliver healthcare services. Statutory guidance issued by NHS England supports ICBs with their duty to commission palliative care services.
Demand for palliative and end of life care is increasing due to people living longer and with increasingly complex needs. It is estimated that by 2050, one in four people in the UK will be aged 65 years or over. In England and Wales, by 2040, demand for palliative care is expected to increase by 25% to 47%. Further analysis of the demands of an aging population on palliative care services is available in a POSTnote on Palliative and end of life care.
In a statement on 24 November 2025, the government acknowledged the challenges facing the palliative care sector. In the same statement, it announced it is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England, with a planned publication date of spring 2026. The government added:
This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan, which prioritises shifting care out of hospitals and into community settings to ensure personalised, compassionate support for individuals of all ages and their families.
Commission on Palliative and End of Life CareAt the end of 2024, it was announced that a Commission on palliative and end of life care had been set up by Labour MP, Rachael Maskell, to help improve end of life care.
The commission’s website outlines its work:
The Commission’s work aims to produce recommendations for solutions to the current difficulties and gaps in access to high-quality palliative care that can meet the extensive range of needs of our diverse population in all areas of the UK. The evidence we receive will be carefully read and analysed, as will evidence heard from witnesses and roundtable meetings. Commissioners are not there to represent their own organisation, but to take a broad overview to find ways forward that can feed into the ten-year plan.
Following the analysis of research and evidence gathered by the Commission, a report will be written to present to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Members of the Houses of Commons and Lords, and service commissioners, and will be available for providers, clinicians and the public.
The commission published two volumes of its final report on palliative and end-of-life care:
- Opportunities for England, Volume 1 (May 2025) which included recommendations to develop a National Strategy for palliative and end-of-life care
- Opportunities for the NHS Ten Year Plan, Volume 2 (June 2025), published ahead of the government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England. The report addressed issues including:
- The need for adequate and sustainable funding for palliative and end of life care
- Inconsistent access and equity issues
- Workforce and training challenges
- Poor care co-ordination and integration of services
- The importance of timely referrals, identification and conversations of care preferences
The government has said that it is working in collaboration with the commission and other stakeholders to develop a MSF for palliative and end of the life care for England.
Independent Expert Panel reportIn 2025, the Health and Social Care Committee commissioned an independent expert panel (IEP) to report on England’s palliative and end of life care services. The IEP’s report, published on 28 November 2025, highlighted a number of issues in the commissioning and delivery of palliative and end of life care, including:
- The variability around the country in the way services are commissioned and a lack of access to data on the needs of local populations
- Insufficient funding for, and provision of, neighbourhood-based services
- Patients and families struggling to navigate a complex system and a lack of information on how to access services
- The NHS’s community-based workforce facing shortages, low morale, poor access to training and limited career progression
- Systemic inequality throughout the country, both in terms of the quality of services available in different parts of the country and in the experiences of underserved or marginalised communities.
In response to the IEP report, the government has said the forthcoming modern service framework for palliative and end of life care will drive improvements in the commissioning and delivery of services. The government response to the IEP report (PDF) included a commitment to publish a new workforce plan in the spring to ensure “the NHS has the workforce it needs to provide high‑quality care for everyone, including those at the end-of-life.”
Parliamentary material Parliamentary written statementsPalliative Care and End of life care
24 November 2025 | HCWS1087
Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care
Children’s Hospice Funding
16 October 2025 | HCWS970
Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care
Hospices
19 December 2024 | HCWS348
Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
6 February 2026 | Lords Chamber
Palliative Care: North Derbyshire
17 December 2025 | Westminster Hall
Terminal Illness: Mental Health Support
3 December 2025 | Westminster Hall
Ageing and End-of-life Care
30 October 2025 | Commons Chamber
Hospice Funding
8 April 2025 | Commons Chamber
Hospice and Palliative Care
13 January 2025 | Commons Chamber
Children’s Hospices: Funding
30 October 2024 | Westminster Hall
Palliative Care: Hospitals
10 February 2026 | UIN 110937
Asked by: Lisa Smart
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of complaints received by NHS Trusts relating to end of life care priorities in hospitals; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) compliance by hospitals with established end of life care priorities and (b) communication with family members and next of kin regarding end of life care decisions.
Answering member: Stephen Kinnock | Department: Department of Health and Social Care
The Department does not hold central estimates of the number of complaints National Health Service trusts receive specifically relating to end‑of‑life care priorities in hospitals. Complaints are managed locally by NHS organisations in line with the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009, NHS Complaint Standards (2022), and Health and Care Act 2022, which set out the requirements for handling complaints in all NHS bodies. Anyone can raise concerns about NHS care, and trusts must investigate these in accordance with the regulations.
NHS England sets out clear expectations for high‑quality end‑of‑life care through statutory guidance and service specifications for integrated care boards (ICBs) on commissioning palliative care and end‑of‑life care services. Compliance with established end‑of‑life care priorities is monitored through existing assurance mechanisms. The Care Quality Commission assesses whether trusts have effective systems in place to recognise deterioration, safeguard vulnerable adults, and provide safe, compassionate care at the end of life. NHS England also annually assesses ICBs on how well they discharge their statutory functions, including commissioning high‑quality palliative care and end‑of‑life care.
We recognise that high-quality palliative care and end-of-life care should include the opportunity for individuals to discuss their wishes and preferences so that these can be taken fully into account in the provision of their future care, also known as advance care planning (ACP).
NHS England has published Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning. These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life.
Palliative Care
5 February 2026 | UIN 110242
Asked by: Dr Al Pinkerton
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration the Department has given to end-of-life decision-making in cases involving progressive loss of capacity, including advanced dementia.
Answering member: Stephen Kinnock | Department: Department of Health and Social Care
We recognise that high-quality palliative care and end-of-life care should include the opportunity for individuals to discuss their wishes and preferences so that these can be taken fully into account in the provision of their future care, also known as advance care planning (ACP). ACP is a voluntary process of person-centred discussion between an individual and their care providers about their preferences and the priorities for their future care.
In order to facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP, NHS England has published Universal Principles for ACP, which are available at the following link:
The universal principles sets out that ACP should take place while a person has the mental capacity to engage in these conversations. An output of these discussions may include an advance statement of wishes, preferences, and priorities. An advance statement is not legally binding, but it is useful to inform and guide decision-making in the future if a person subsequently loses their capacity to make decisions about their care. A person can also nominate a Lasting Power of Attorney who is then able to make decisions on behalf of that person should they lose capacity to make decisions about their care.
Additionally, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on dementia includes recommendations on ACP and involving people living with dementia in decisions about their care. The NICE guidance recommends using an anticipatory healthcare planning process for people living with dementia who are approaching the end of life. It recommends involving the person and their family members or carers, as appropriate, as far as possible and using the principles of best-interest decision-making if the person does not have capacity to make decisions about their care. Further information on the NICE guidance on dementia is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97=
Palliative Care: Staff
2 February 2026 | UIN 102795
Asked by: Rachael Maskell
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will develop a workforce plan for palliative care with service commissioners.
Answering member: Stephen Kinnock | Department: Department of Health and Social Care
We have published our 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and a central part of the plan is our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.
We will publish a new workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups. We are committed to working with partners to ensure the plan meets its aims and will engage independent experts, including those in the palliative and end of life care sector, to make sure the plan is ambitious, forward looking, and evidence based. The workforce plan will be published in spring of this year.
We are also developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will align with the Workforce Plan, which commits to ensuring staff have better training, more fulfilling roles, and the right skills for future models of care.
Palliative Care: Health Professions
17 November 2025 | HL11833
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to expand training, support and retention initiatives for healthcare professionals delivering palliative and end-of-life care.
Answering member: Baroness Merron | Department: Department of Health and Social Care
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it, including in palliative care and end of life care.
NHS staff told us through the 10-Year Health Plan engagement that they are crying out for change. This 10 Year Workforce Plan will set out how we will deliver that change by making sure that staff are better treated, have better training, more fulfilling roles, and hope for the future.
To ensure the health and social care workforce is equipped and well supported to deliver personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, host the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.
Hospices: Children
16 September 2025 | HL10089
Asked by: Lord Young of Cockham
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to ensure that ringfenced NHS funding for children's hospices is available beyond 2025–26; and to increase this funding to £30 million per year by 2030.
Answering member: Baroness Merron | Department: Department of Health and Social Care
We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.
We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which until recently was known as the children and young people’s hospice grant. We cannot yet confirm what the funding for 2026/27 will be, or how it will be administered.
The Department and NHS England are looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.
The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that the future state of services reduces variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.
Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining how to operationalise the required changes to palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.
Press materialThe following is a selection of news and media articles relevant to this debate.
Please note: the Library is not responsible for either the views or the accuracy of external content.
Health and Social Care Committee, Government accepts many conclusions of Independent Expert Panel’s report on palliative care services in England,19 February 2026
Department of Health and Social Care, £80 million support for children’s hospices over 3 years, 16 October 2025
Department of Health and Social Care, £75 million boost for hospices to transform end-of-life care, 20 July 2025
King's College London, LGBT+ History Month 2025: Shaping the future of palliative care, 3 February 2025
Marie Curie, How lived experience helped set new research priorities, 12 February 2025
Department of Health and Social Care, Biggest investment into hospices in a generation, 19 December 2024
King's College London, New figures indicate substantially higher future need for palliative care among people living with dementia, 16 September 2024
Further readingBriefing for debate on a motion on the future of palliative care (pdf) (Sue Ryder, 26 February 2026)
Evaluation of Palliative care in England: Government Response (Health and Social Care Committee, 3 February 2026)
Expert Panel: Evaluation of Palliative care in England (Health and Social Care Committee, 28 November 2025)
Palliative care - general issues (NICE, last revised April 2025)
Palliative care (WHO, 1 June 2023)
Palliative and End of Life Care Refresh (James Lind Alliance, February 2025)
Palliative and end of life care (Commons Library POSTnote, 27 July 2022)