Only now are the Department and NHS England developing a Modern Service Framework for palliative and end-of-life care, but so far the details are unclear. There has not been a new national strategy for improving palliative and end-of-life care in England since 2008. The Health and Care Act 2022 set out a legal duty for ICBs to commission palliative care services that meet the needs of the local population, but this has not yet delivered equal access to quality services. Hospices are central to achieving government’s objectives of providing more care in the community and reducing hospital use, but national oversight of the palliative and end-of-life care system has not kept pace with this policy shift. Hospices have diverged 3 from the NHS in some ways, for example, clinicians in hospices are often paid less than their NHS counterparts. The Modern Service Framework that the Department and NHS England are developing aims to bring together disparate elements of the system, including facilitating ICBs to improve their commissioning of care services from hospices, but its details at present are vague, and its delivery will require clear plans and sustained investment to fix the long-standing problems within the sector. recommendation DHSC and NHS England should work with and take on board the views of the hospice sector to develop and publish a fully costed delivery plan alongside the framework.