Policy responses and statements
Background: Views are being sought on the Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy. It is intended that this strategy will provide a policy framework and best practice guidelines for the planning and delivery of palliative and end of life care across the public, independent, community and voluntary sectors. There is an accompanying questionnaire for respondents to complete. Executive Summary: Palliative and end of life care is the active, holistic care of patients with advanced progressive illness. It is an integral part of the care delivered by all health and social care professionals, and indeed by families and carers, to those living with, and dying from any advanced, progressive and incurable conditions. Palliative and end of life care focuses on the person rather than the disease and aims to ensure quality of life from diagnosis onwards. This 5 year Strategy provides a vision and direction for service planning and delivery. It has been developed and should be implemented within the existing legal framework. The Strategy builds on current and predicted demographics, intelligence and consultation which have informed the implementation of other Departmental policy areas, Service Frameworks, and Priorities for Action Targets and takes into account policy context from the other United Kingdom (UK) countries and the Republic of Ireland (RoI). The Strategy sets out a vision for palliative and end of life care across all conditions and care settings, based on what people value most and expect from such care. This vision emphasises the importance of:
Driving the service improvement expectation of this vision, requires ownership and leadership from across all commissioners and providers. The roles of public, independent, community, and voluntary sector organisations, and the collaborative arrangements that exist between them are essential to quality palliative and end of life care. The Strategy reinforces the need to continue to strengthen these creative partnerships, through local and regional infrastructure and strategic plans. Download this consultation response as a .pdf Copies of this response are available from: Lesley Lockhart, Tel: 0131 225 7324 ext 608 [19 February 2010]
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