To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety whether he will update the current Living Matters, Dying Matters palliative and end of life care strategy for adults, so that provision is increased for everyone with a terminal illness.

‘Living Matters:Dying Matters’, my Department’s palliative and end of life care strategy for adults, was published in March 2010 with a vision that any person with an advanced, non-curative condition is supported to live well and die well, irrespective of their condition or care setting. This included improved access to care and support services for people living with a terminal illness and their families. Significant progress has been made in the implementation of the Strategy’s recommendations.

The Strategy is also supported by the Transforming Your Palliative and End of Life Care (TYPELC) programme, currently being delivered in partnership between the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB), Public Health Agency (PHA) and Marie Curie. The aim of the programme is to improve the design and delivery of co-ordinated services and enable people with palliative and end of life care needs to have choice in their preferred place of care, thereby improving access to and the quality of palliative and end of life care.

Areas being considered as part of the TYPELC programme include support for patients and carers, training for healthcare providers, enhanced access to care services at home, redesign of day hospice services and identification and planning for people with palliative care needs.

Planning of care for people with palliative care needs has also been supported by the development of the End of Life Care Operational System (ELCOS) to identify people who may be in the last year of life so that their needs can be appropriately assessed and managed.

There is strong partnership working between the HSCB, PHA, HSC Trusts and community and voluntary sectors in the provision of palliative care services. Recently, the HSCB and PHA further invested in an enhanced palliative care rapid response service. This is a partnership between Marie Curie palliative care nurses and local GP out of hours services to provide response to calls for care and assistance in order to support care at home and avoid unnecessary transfer to hospital.

Co-working between condition specific services, such as those for people with MS and Parkinson’s Disease, and palliative care specialists is already in place. Current proposals as part of TYPELC for the re-design of day hospice services will strengthen these arrangements.

The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority has undertaken a review of the implementation of the Living Matters:Dying Matters Strategy to assess progress against the recommendations in the Strategy’s action plan. My Department will consider the findings and any recommendations of the review report when this is published.