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Palliative care

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Palliative care planning group Wales: Report to the Minister for Health and Social Services

This report presents the findings of a dedicated palliative care planning group.

Palliative care services funding

Following the report of the palliative care planning group for Wales, the Minister established a working group to implement the report.

Palliative care is the active holistic care of patients with advanced progressive illness.

Baroness Finlay and her Palliative Care Implementation Board was asked to lead on the implementation of the Palliative Care Planning Group Wales Report or what has become known as the ‘Sugar Report’. Significant progress has been made against the recommendations within the report, including:

  • consultant numbers established for adult services, paediatric services and transitional care;
  • increase in allied Health Professional posts;
  • increased Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) capacity and costs to develop 7/7 working;
  • establishment of a 24 hour service advice line across Wales for adult and paediatric services; and
  • the development of the current IT systems for adult palliative care and the establishment of an IT system for children’s palliative care.

This work now needs to be built upon further.  The Minister for Health and Social Services has agreed to the Palliative Care Implementation Board’s proposals for the recurrent allocation of the central £6.888m being made available in 2010-11, to improve palliative and end of life care services.