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End of life care initiative

  • Last modified date:
    2 August 2007

On 26 December 2003, the Secretary of State for Health announced the introduction of a £12 million investment over three years to improve care for people coming to the end of their lives. This follows the commitment in Building on the Best to take forward training programmes so all adult patients nearing the end of life will have access to high quality specialist palliative care to be able to live and die in the place of their choice.

This investment will specifically help support implementation of the:

  • Gold Standards Framework;
  • Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying, and;
  • Preferred Place of Care tools

Whilst initially developed for use with cancer patients, these tools are being adapted to meet the needs of all patients requiring end of life care.

The initiative is being driven by SHAs who are identifying clinical priority groups and care settings at a local level.

A National Support Team, comprising a Programme Director and Programme Administrator has also been established to support SHAs for the duration of the programme.

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