Marie Curie urges Scottish Parliament to challenge palliative care inequalities

Marie Curie will be urging the Scottish Parliament to challenge the barriers to receiving palliative care for the 10,600 people across Scotland every year who need it during evidence to the Health and Sport Committee’s Inquiry into Palliative Care today (Tuesday 22 September 2015). 

Giving oral evidence Richard Meade, Marie Curie Head of Policy & Public Affairs Scotland, will discuss the importance of a clear commitment and process which will ensure everyone with a palliative care need has access to it by 2020, providing a better life for people and their families living with a terminal illness.

Referring to Marie Curie’s report, Triggers for Palliative Care, published in June 2015, the charity recommends a three-fold practical approach:

• the need for healthcare professionals to receive on-going education and training in palliative care
• an emphasis on helping the public understand the terms palliative care and terminal illness
• the need for robust data to understand what palliative care looks like in Scotland

Ahead of the evidence session, Richard Meade, Marie Curie Head of Policy & Public Affairs Scotland said: “Marie Curie believes that everyone who needs palliative care should be able to access to it by 2020.

“To achieve this we need to support health and social care professionals and to make palliative care everyone’s business.

“One of the biggest challenges is correcting public misconception that palliative care only benefits people who are in the final weeks or days of their lives. We also need to have open and honest conversations about dying and death, as an inevitable and natural part of life.

“This inquiry presents a fantastic opportunity to highlight the challenges facing people in accessing palliative care, as well as exploring how these may be overcome.”

-ENDS-