Conference Papers

If you would like to order the papers for this conference, including the slide presentations as they were presented to the delegate on the day, click here.

Closing Keynote Address:

Stephen O’Brien MP, Shadow Minister for Health

In an attempt to provide more long-term funding for palliative care, a £50 million capital investment programme for hospices was annnounced in 2006 along with a commitment to review long-term funding for children's hospices . What is more, by 2008 the government expects everyone with a long-term condition and/ or a long-term need for support to routinely receive information about both their condition and have self care support servies more widely availiable . This follows from 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 after the commitment in the Command Paper Building on the Best (2003) to take forward training programmes so that all adult patients nearing the end of life, regardless of their diagnosis, will have access to high quality palliative care.

There are still significant inequalities in access to palliative care due to diagnosis, geography, age and social disadvantage however. To tackle this, the spread of services needs to be more consistent and planning needs to be more strategic and funding more sustainable.

To achieve better palliative care the national strategy for end of life care is due to be published in parallel with Lord Darzi's NHS Next Stage Review final report , scheduled for June 2008 – showing how integral palliative care is to the Government and the NHS. PCTs are required to undertake a baseline review of end of life care services in preparation for the new national strategy. This major one-day conference will discuss what healthcare professionals can expect from the strategy and how palliative care can better meet the needs of the patient.

For further information contact Andrew Almond on 020 7324 4363,
e-mail andrew.almond@neilstewartassociates.co.uk