Marie Curie Statement on UK Government’s Ten Year Health Plan

The consultation to inform the next Ten Year Health Plan is now underway, creating a significant opportunity for the UK Government to fix our broken healthcare system and to ensure that dying people are no longer forgotten – allowing them the dignity, compassion and respect that is important at the end of life.

Marie Curie's Better End of Life report found that a more coordinated, community-based approach to palliative care can play a key role in ensuring people have better care , helping to reduce pressures on the NHS, freeing-up more ambulances, A&Es and hospital beds for those who need them. This demonstrates that for the government to meet their ambition of moving healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, end of life care must feature prominently in the new NHS plan .

Regardless of the outcome of the assisted dying debate, we cannot shift focus from the need for good palliative and end of life care. The Government must seize this opportunity to create a properly funded plan that guarantees the best possible end of life care for everyone.