Marie Curie response to Government's budget announcement for social care

Marie Curie response to the Government's announcement of an additional £2 billion of funding for social care in England over the next three years.

Scott Sinclair, Head of Policy and Public Affairs for England for Marie Curie, said:

”We welcome the Government’s announcement of extra funding for social care which is of such critical importance to people living with a terminal illness. Timely access to social care often determines whether someone is able to get out of hospital in the last weeks and days of their lives. However, money is not the only issue. The majority of people continue to die in hospital, so unless the Government develops the capacity of community palliative care services, there will be more pressure on our already stretched hospitals.

"An excellent starting point would be to ensure that every Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) area has a strategy to ensure that those who are dying are, where possible, able to receive their care in their usual place of residence. Currently almost half of STPs have no substantial strategy on how to provide care to people at the end of life – a situation which could mean many people affected by terminal illness could face a ‘postcode lottery’ when trying to access the care that they need."