Marie Curie responds to “One Year On: The Government Response to the Review of Choice in End of Life Care”

Today, the Government has published a one year progress report on its national commitment at the end of life. Scott Sinclair, Head of Policy and Public Affairs England, comments:

“We welcome the Government’s focus on end of life care, particularly on ensuring that people’s choices about where they are cared for are recognised and properly recorded. However, in the two years since the publication of the Independent Review on the Choice of Life, there has been a disappointing lack of progress on preparing for the increased demand in palliative and end of life care services that our ageing population will surely require.

“With the amount of nurses applying to work in the UK from the EU dwindling, and fewer Brits opting to undertake nursing training, the Government needs a sharp focus on preparing the NHS to tackle increasing demand for palliative care services in a world in which there are fewer resources and fewer people undertaking caring roles. We are deeply concerned that the Government and NHS England are not currently demonstrating when or even how they will tackle this problem. ”