New standards to help terminally ill patients to die with dignity no matter where they live in Scotland will be unveiled today.
New standards to help terminally ill patients to die with dignity no matter where they live in Scotland will be unveiled today.
The targets include ensuring that patients dying from an incurable illness are identified and given a care plan covering their emotional, spiritual and physical needs, within two weeks.
Health boards are also being told to provide 24-hour community nursing and care services to allow patients to be looked after in their own homes at the end of their lives if they wish.
Boards will have to produce a plan explaining how they will deliver these aspirations by next March, and a national group is being established to ensure the improvements are implemented.
Palliative care charity Marie Curie Cancer Care has welcomed the action plan, but said it needs more time to examine details such as the additional funding of £3m per year that Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has promised to support the improvements.
The launch of the action plan by the Scottish Government follows an investigation by Audit Scotland that highlighted major deficiencies in end-of-life care north of the Border.
Audit Scotland said that of the 55,000 people who die in Scotland every year, 42,000 could benefit from some form of palliative care to help them cope. In reality, they found that just 5000 patients with potential palliative care needs were identified and logged by GPs, and even then the level of support available to them varied significantly across the country.
For example, the investigators reported that there were almost three times as many palliative care specialists working for NHS Highland compared to NHS Ayrshire and Arran.
The action plan, Living and Dying Well, promises a new direction.
Ms Sturgeon, who will set out the details in Edinburgh today, said: "For the first time there will be a single, comprehensive approach for the provision of palliative and end-of-life care across Scotland."
If successfully implemented, the new standards would eradicate the current service lottery, which depends not only on a patient's postcode but also their disease.
Audit Scotland revealed that about 90% of specialist palliative care was delivered to patients with cancer, although cancer accounted for less than 30% of deaths.
Ms Sturgeon said: "While maintaining a focus on the needs of people dying from cancer, I believe that it is essential that we strengthen palliative care services across Scotland.
"We must take a broader and more inclusive approach to other areas such as long-term conditions, frailty and dementia."
Dr David Oxenham, medical director for Marie Curie Cancer Care Hospice in Edinburgh, congratulated the Scottish Government on its commitment to improving palliative care.
He said: "We welcome the Living and Dying Well' plan and hope that it can be a platform for providing greater access to palliative care services for everyone across Scotland.
"We particularly welcome the commitment to providing access for patients to 24-hour community nursing and home care services, which would allow them to be cared for at home if they wish."
