APPG on Hospice & End of Life Care

The group’s purpose is to:

• Raise awareness and promote the needs of adults and children living with terminal or life-limiting conditions, and their families and carers, in Parliament.
• Promote person-centred, evidence-based policies to improve end of life care in all settings, including hospices, hospitals, care homes, and in people's own homes.

Hospice UK supports the APPG as its Secretariat. The cross-party parliamentarians leading the work of the APPG include:

Co-chairs:

• Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench)
• Peter Gibson MP (Conservative)

Officers:

• Jessica Morden MP (Labour)
• Lord Sentamu (Crossbench)
• Mary Kelly Foy MP (Labour) 
• Patricia Gibson MP (Scottish National Party)
• Sally-Ann Hart MP (Conservative)
• Sir Peter Bottomley MP (Conservative)

The minutes from the APPG's AGM on 10 May 2023 can be found here and the group's recently approved Income and Expenditure statement can be found here.

The APPG has launched an inquiry into the state of government funding for hospices. 

In 2022, following campaigning from the sector and the APPG’s Co-Chair Baroness Finlay, an amendment was made to the Health and Care Act, creating a legal requirement for Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England to commission palliative care services. 

It is now important to examine whether this amendment has had its intended impact and if it is leading to more sustainable funding for hospices in England. It is particularly vital that we have this understanding of hospice funding now, at a time when hospices are particularly vulnerable.

The APPG welcomes submissions of evidence to this inquiry from as wide a range of organisations and respondents as possible. This includes but is not limited to:

• Integrated Care Boards and Partnerships
• Hospices
• Individuals with lived experience of receiving or delivering palliative and end of life care

Please send you submission to the APPG’s secretariat at policy@hospiceuk.org. The deadline to submit to this inquiry is 1st September 2023.

Read the inquiry announcement and terms of reference here for further information and to see the call for evidence questions.

Review into the lasting impact of COVID-19 on death, dying and bereavement

The APPG has now published the outcome report of its review into the lasting impact of COVID-19 on death, dying and bereavement.

The review found that the significant rise in deaths, including in people’s own homes, during the COVID-19 pandemic placed huge pressure on the health and care system and led to incidences of poor care. The sheer volume of death, alongside measures to reduce the spread of infection, resulted in extreme pressure on now exhausted health and care workers and unpaid carers.

The report makes recommendations to Government, NHS England, Integrated Care Boards, end of life care services and other actors in order to harness what the sector has learned over the past three years to improve palliative and end of life care for all.

Read the report here.