The National Adult Palliative Care Policy, the first such strategy document in this area in over 20 years, aims to strengthen and develop our palliative care services in Ireland to ensure all patients with a life-limiting illness, and their families, can access the appropriate care where and when they need it.
Launching the strategy, Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly said a total of €2 million was being provided in 2024 to begin implementation of this new policy, while further funding for 2025 and beyond would be subject to the annual estimates process.
It had been developed to facilitate high quality patient-centred care through an integrated approach across primary, acute and social care settings, taking into account the range of patients requiring palliative care services, as well as the projected increase in Ireland’s older population.
The policy contains 25 recommendations, including:
- Improving public understanding of palliative care and support community engagement programmes in conjunction with service providers and voluntary groups.
- Providing support to GPs and other community-based service providers to care for more people with palliative care needs in the home setting
- Supporting family carers in the home.
- Addressing regional variation in specialist palliative care service provision and tailoring services to meet the needs of different populations.
- Developing and expanding out-of-hours palliative care in the community and reducing unnecessary hospital admissions.
Launching the policy, Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly said,
“I am committed to supporting the ongoing development of our palliative care services. This policy provides for an integrated approach to palliative care, delivering services from the lowest possible level of complexity and as close to the home of the person as possible.
“Reflecting this Government’s commitment to palliative care services, I am providing €2 million in 2024 to support the implementation of this policy. This funding will allow for the development and implementation of a modern and standardised palliative care information and communications technologies (ICT) infrastructure.
“The budget for palliative care increased to over €155m in 2024, representing a €54 million or 53% increase since 2020.
“We are taking an integrated approach across the six health regions, providing support to rehabilitation and bereavement services and ensuring appropriate resourcing of the National Clinical Programme for Palliative Care to develop alternative care pathways and reduce the number of palliative patients with emergency needs presenting to Emergency Departments.
“It is crucial that patients with life-limiting conditions and their families can easily access a level of palliative care service that is appropriate to their needs, allowing them to live as well as possible for as long as possible, and to ensure a ‘good’ death in as much as possible.”
Professor Karen Ryan, Chairperson of the National Adult Palliative Care Policy Group, and Consultant in Palliative Medicine in the Mater Hospital and St. Francis Hospice Dublin said, “Palliative care is characterised by community. In times of serious illness and strain, people come together to provide care and support, and to journey alongside the individual with a life-limiting condition and their family.
“This policy builds on our internationally recognised achievements in the provision of palliative care. It harnesses the strength of collaboration to set a vision for the future, where high-quality palliative care may be accessed by all those in need without financial hardship. The vision is underpinned by a carefully considered implementation roadmap, to ensure that change is achieved in a timely and effective manner.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Bernard Gloster, said, “I warmly welcome the launch of the new Palliative Care Policy. I would like to acknowledge the commitment and efforts of the steering group which progressed the development of this policy, and to thank Professor Karen Ryan for chairing the group.
“The HSE looks forward to implementing this policy and to continuing to work in partnership with the voluntary sector and all relevant partners to ensure that we deliver the right palliative care, in the right place, at the right time to all of those that need it.
“The value of this cooperative partnership has contributed to Ireland’s ranking as second among 81 countries for the provision of end-of-life care, with 89% of patient’s families and friends rating the Specialist Palliative Care they received as very good, as reported by the National End of Life survey.
“The implementation of the Palliative Care Policy will ensure that we can continue to develop and deliver both general and specialist palliative care services to meet the needs of our patients and their families. It will also help by informing the public, including our healthcare professionals, about the important roles that palliative care services can play within the HSE.”
Feargal Twomey, National Clinical Lead for Palliative Care said, “I very much welcome the publication of the National Palliative Care Policy and look forward to working with the whole healthcare community in Ireland to ensure that its recommendations are implemented.
“This national palliative care policy will inspire the provision of palliative care for the next decade and beyond to people of all ages in any location across the country, delivered by knowledgeable and compassionate healthcare professionals.
“None of us will live forever. This policy will improve public awareness and understanding about palliative care and reduce fear and misconceptions about dying, death and bereavement.
“Additionally, this policy will promote earlier recognition of our patients’ palliative care needs. It will be the case that for many patients that the teams led by their GP, or their Hospital Consultant will have the ability to deliver general palliative care to them as part of their day-to day work.
“This policy will drive academic research, education, quality improvement and meaningful outcome measurement in palliative care.”
Main Policy recommendations:
- To support patient autonomy and involvement of patients and families in the provision of care and advanced care planning.
- Addressing inequities in palliative care service provision and tailoring services to meet the needs of different populations.
- Supporting family carers in the home.
- Strengthening financial protection for people with life-limiting conditions and their families.
- Supporting GPs and other community-based service providers to care for people with palliative care needs in the home setting.
- Aligning palliative care services to the HSE Health Regions structures and addressing geographic variations in the provision of specialist palliative care services.
- Improving public understanding of palliative care and supporting the development of compassionate communities.
- Improving data collection capability to improve palliative care provision.
- Planning for population ageing and thus increased demand for palliative care services.
- Strengthening clinical governance and embedding continuous quality improvement in all aspects of care provision.
- Developing research and innovation capability in palliative care.
