End of Life Care Strategy

The strategy was developed over a period of a year by an advisory board led by Professor Mike Richards

and six working groups, consulting over 300 stakeholders. It became apparent that a whole systems approach was required. Accordingly the Strategy strongly recommends that a care pathway approach should be followed both for care and the commissioning of end of life care.

Key Steps

Identification of people approaching the end of life, and initiating discussions about preferences for end of life care;
Care planning: assessing needs and preferences, agreeing a care plan to reflect these and reviewing these regularly;
Coordination of care;
Delivery of high quality services in all locations;
Management of the last days of life;
Care after death; and
Support for carers, both during a person’s illness and after their death.

The themes set out in the strategy have built on the best available research evidence and on existing experience from:

Voluntary hospices, many of which have been beacons of excellence in end of life care since the foundation of the modern hospice movement by Dame Cicely Saunders at St Christopher’s Hospice in 1967.
The NHS End of Life Care Programme (2004–2007), which has contributed significantly to the rollout of programmes such as the Gold Standards Framework (GSF), Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) and the Preferred Priorities for Care (PPC).
The Delivering Choice Programme currently being run by Marie Curie Cancer Care.

For details of the Strategy and a copy of the Strategy in full, please go to the Department of Health's website (opens in a new window)