Marie Curie contributes to new commissioning guidance for specialist palliative care

Marie Curie Cancer Care has contributed to new commissioning guidance out today.

Commissioning Guidance for Specialist Palliative Care: helping to deliver commissioning objectives, has been developed as a collaboration between the Association for Palliative Medicine of Great Britain and Ireland, Consultant Nurse in Palliative Care Reference Group, Marie Curie Cancer Care, National Council for Palliative Care and Palliative Care Section of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Dr Teresa Tate, Medical Adviser for Marie Curie Cancer Care, who contributed to the guidance, said: “We hope that this new guidance will provide commissioners with the key information that they need to help them commission specialist palliative care, as a vital and specific component of the whole spectrum of palliative and end of life care service provision.

"Specialist palliative care can improve outcomes for patients with complex problems and for their families. It provides expert management of symptoms, enables people to be cared for in their place of choice and ensures appropriate use of hospital admissions. Specialist palliative care practitioners act as an essential resource for all professionals providing care for people at the end of their lives."

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