This week, the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly launched the National Adult Palliative Care Policy, the first such strategy document in this area in over 20 years. Congratulations to UCD School of Medicine’s Professor Karen Ryan, who acted as Chair of the Steering Group for the policy development.
Professor Ryan, Chairperson of the National Adult Palliative Care Policy Group, and Consultant in Palliative Medicine in the Mater Hospital and St. Francis Hospice Dublin said:
“Palliative care is characterised by community. In times of serious illness and strain, people come together to provide care and support, and to journey alongside the individual with a life-limiting condition and their family.
“This policy builds on our internationally recognised achievements in the provision of palliative care. It harnesses the strength of collaboration to set a vision for the future, where high-quality palliative care may be accessed by all those in need without financial hardship. The vision is underpinned by a carefully considered implementation roadmap, to ensure that change is achieved in a timely and effective manner.”
Published during Palliative Care Week, the policy aims to strengthen and develop our palliative care services in Ireland to ensure all patients with a life-limiting illness, and their families, can access the appropriate care where and when they need it.
€2 million is being provided in 2024 to begin implementation of this new policy, while further funding for 2025 and beyond will be subject to the annual estimates process.
It has been developed to facilitate high quality patient-centred care through an integrated approach across primary, acute and social care settings, taking into account the range of patients requiring palliative care services, as well as the projected increase in Ireland’s older population.
The Government’s commitment to the development of these services is reflected in the budget for palliative care which increased to over €155m in 2024, representing a €54 million or 53% increase since 2020.
The policy contains 25 recommendations, including:
Launching the policy, Minister Donnelly said:
“I’m delighted that we are publishing this policy during Palliative Care Week, as we want to increase the public understanding of palliative care and promote conversations about a care service that we may all experience at some point.
“I am committed to supporting the ongoing development of our palliative care services. This policy provides for an integrated approach to palliative care, delivering services from the lowest possible level of complexity and as close to the home of the person as possible.
“Reflecting this Government’s commitment to palliative care services, I am providing €2 million in 2024 to support the implementation of this policy. This funding will allow for the development and implementation of a modern and standardised palliative care information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure.
“We are taking an integrated approach across the six health regions, providing support to rehabilitation and bereavement services and ensuring appropriate resourcing of the National Clinical Programme for Palliative Care to develop alternative care pathways and reduce the number of palliative patients with emergency needs presenting to Emergency Departments.
“It is crucial that patients with life-limiting conditions and their families can easily access a level of palliative care service that is appropriate to their needs, allowing them to live as well as possible for as long as possible, and to ensure a ‘good’ death in as much as possible.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Bernard Gloster, said:
“I warmly welcome the launch of the new Palliative Care Policy and think that it is particularly appropriate that we do so during Palliative Care Week 2024. I would like to acknowledge the commitment and efforts of the steering group which progressed the development of this policy, and to thank Professor Karen Ryan for chairing the group.
“The HSE looks forward to implementing this policy and to continuing to work in partnership with the voluntary sector and all relevant partners to ensure that we deliver the right palliative care, in the right place, at the right time to all of those that need it.
“The value of this cooperative partnership has contributed to Ireland’s ranking as second among 81 countries for the provision of end-of-life care, with 89% of patient’s families and friends rating the Specialist Palliative Care they received as very good, as reported by the National End of Life survey.
“The implementation of the Palliative Care Policy will ensure that we can continue to develop and deliver both general and specialist palliative care services to meet the needs of our patients and their families. It will also help by informing the public, including our healthcare professionals, about the important roles that palliative care services can play within the HSE.”
Feargal Twomey, National Clinical Lead for Palliative Care said:
“I very much welcome the publication of the National Palliative Care Policy and look forward to working with the whole healthcare community in Ireland to ensure that its recommendations are implemented.
“This national palliative care policy will inspire the provision of palliative care for the next decade and beyond to people of all ages in any location across the country, delivered by knowledgeable and compassionate healthcare professionals.
“None of us will live forever. This policy will improve public awareness and understanding about palliative care and reduce fear and misconceptions about dying, death and bereavement.
“Additionally, this policy will promote earlier recognition of our patients’ palliative care needs. It will be the case that for many patients that the teams led by their GP, or their Hospital Consultant will have the ability to deliver general palliative care to them as part of their day-to day work.
“This policy will drive academic research, education, quality improvement and meaningful outcome measurement in palliative care.”
Notes to Editor:
The National Adult Palliative Care Policy is available here.
The Minister commissioned the development of a National Adult Palliative Care Policy to fulfil the Programme for Government 2020 commitments.
Many people still think of palliative care as care provided at the very last stage of life, around the time of death. However, the scope of palliative care has now broadened to providing care at an earlier stage in the disease trajectory. In this model of integrated palliative care provision, palliative care is not dependent on prognosis and can be delivered at the same time as curative treatment.
Supporting the patient, family and carer is at the heart of this policy. Actions with timelines have been identified to deliver each recommendation, so to measure the progress of the policy.
This policy offers an opportunity to develop the governance, coordination, and delivery of palliative care services in line with existing and emerging structures such as the HSE Health Regions as well as programmes such as the Enhanced Community Care (ECC), National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), and National Traveller Health Action Plan (NTHAP).
Main Policy recommendations: