A report published by the University of Bath highlights that Scotland ‘is leading the way’ with progressive policies for end of life care.
I have worked in palliative care for 25 years and over that time have seen significant advancements in Scotland in how we plan, prioritise and deliver palliative care.
Without doubt, 2015 was a milestone for Scotland. The Scottish Government has shown a continued commitment to improving palliative care and its 2015 Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care set the bold ambition that everyone who needs palliative care has access to it by 2021.
As chief executive of CHAS, Scotland’s national children’s hospice service, I am committed to helping deliver this. I believe that one of our fundamental rights should be a good and dignified death, and palliative care is central to this.
The framework set out how we can achieve this, including integrated health and social care partnerships, improved education and research and addressing the fears and misconceptions around palliative and end of life support.
However, what was also significant is that, for the first time, children’s palliative care was recognised as having its own particular challenges and opportunities and that there was an urgency in improving care for the 0-25 year age group.
In the same year the Scottish Government’s Health and Sport Committee inquiry, “We need to talk about palliative care”, recommended that one commitment to improving children’s palliative care was to bring parity of funding between it and adult’s palliative care. Working with the Scottish Government, and with cross party support, we were able to deliver this last year. It is a model our counterparts in the rest of the UK are keen to mirror.
In Scotland we are clear on why we need increased funding. The Children in Scotland requiring Palliative care study (The ChiSP Study), which we commissioned along with the Scottish Government, showed for the first time the challenges we are facing in Scotland – 15,400 children living with a life-shortening condition; three will die each week and at present CHAS is only reaching one of these, and the greatest number of deaths occur in children under one year of age. Our focus is on ensuring we reach every family in Scotland who needs our care.
We have already created partnerships with our NHS and social care colleagues, bringing our services into hospitals and communities, but as with adult palliative care, it is in its infancy. We need to increase our presence and working in more hospitals and communities across Scotland Armed with The ChiSP Study, we are working to build the detailed knowledge on which communities that need our care most, particularly families from minority or marginalised communities and those from areas of high deprivation. Again this is not unique to children’s palliative care.
Today’s report rightly highlights that Scotland is committed to ensuring everyone has a good death and I know colleagues in the rest of the UK and further afield are looking at us as an example. I am sure that everyone involved in palliative care in Scotland will continue to address the challenges to ensure every child or adult and their family is able to access the care they need when they need it.
Maria McGill is chief executive of CHAS, Scotland’s national children’s hospice service www.chas.org.uk
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