Oral - Palliative Care

I am grateful for the opportunity to set out my proposals for the future allocation of the additional £2 million recurrent revenue funding for palliative care hospices, which was made available for the first time in this year’s budget. For people with progressive and life-threatening conditions good-quality palliative care services are vital. I wish to ensure that the level of care provided, at what is a very distressing time, is the very best possible.

In recognition of the valuable role that the voluntary sector plays in providing palliative care, the Assembly Government has already provided £10 million over four years to enhance and develop services and facilities. The Assembly Government’s policy document, 'A Strategic Direction for Palliative Care Services in Wales’, published in 2003, required the national health service and the voluntary sector to work together closely to plan and design these services. Although good work has been done to assess patient need, the joint planning of services has been slower than we would have liked.

A recent review has confirmed that the provision of palliative care remains patchy across Wales. As a result, I intend to create an effective planning system that delivers clarity about which palliative care services are needed, where those services are needed, and by whom they should be provided.

I want local health boards to establish formal palliative and end-of-life care planning fora as part of the newly established regional commissioning units. These planning fora will be responsible for assessing the level of provision needed across the region. They will stipulate the level of quality required in line with national guidelines and standards, and they will identify which statutory or voluntary organisations are best placed to provide that care. This work will underpin individual local health boards’ long-term commissioning arrangements.

To ensure that these planning fora operate effectively, I am establishing a Wales palliative care planning group, which will define the scope of core palliative care services. This group will also identify a means of measuring the quality of care. Organisations that cannot demonstrate that they meet the quality requirements will not receive national health service funding.

I have asked Viv Sugar, chair of the Welsh Consumer Council, to chair the group and she has agreed to do so. The Welsh Consumer Council carried out a review of independent hospices a few years ago and Viv, therefore, already has a good understanding of the issues involved in this work. She is now in the process of agreeing membership, which will include representation from the voluntary and statutory sectors, specialist doctors and nurses working in palliative care and those who use these services. I expect the group to report to me by spring next year, in time to inform final funding considerations for 2008-09.

Turning to the £2 million funding that I am holding centrally for voluntary hospices, I shall await the recommendations of the palliative care planning group before determining funding levels for future years. In the mean time, I have decided that the best way of distributing the funding in 2007-08 will be to base allocations on the pattern used in the previous £10 million palliative care funding programme. The allocation received in 2006-07 will be increased by 30 per cent for hospices providing care for adults and by 50 per cent for children’s hospices. This means that, for example, St David’s Foundation in Newport will receive £261,000 in 2007-08, rising from £201,000 last year, and Hope House Children’s Hospice, and Tŷ Gobaith in the Conwy Valley will receive £149,000 this year, compared with £99,000 last year. Altogether, 20 different hospices, the length and breadth of Wales, will receive enhanced allocations as a result of the decisions I am announcing today. A full list will be available to Members before the end of this afternoon as we move ahead to deliver equity of access to high-quality palliative care services for all Welsh patients.