‘End-Of-Life Care Hampered By Poor Access, Inconsistency And Unclear Funding’

Access to good palliative care needs to improve, and it must be more consistently provided, warns a report by Audit Scotland.

The ‘Review of palliative care services in Scotland’, says most people needing palliation at the end of their lives are cared for by generalist healthcare staff, but patients with any condition who need care from specialist services should be able to get this.

It says that the availability of specialist care also varies significantly across Scotland with the number of specialist staff per 100,000 people ranges from 4.1 in NHS Ayrshire and Arran to 7.3 in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and 11.2 in NHS Highland.

Caroline Gardner, the Deputy Auditor General for Scotland, said: ‘More than 55,000 people die in Scotland each year. Palliative care should be an integral part of the support given to patients and their families and carers during the last months, days and hours of their lives.

‘In many areas of Scotland the voluntary sector and the health service provide excellent and much appreciated care. But access to good quality palliative care varies across the country. The Scottish Government needs to address these issues in the palliative care action plan it is due to publish this October.’

The report finds that the total cost of providing palliative care is unknown. About £59 million was spent on specialist palliative care in 2006/07, and almost half of this money came from the voluntary sector. The cost of generalist care is unclear but it is a significant part of the work of many staff in health and social care.