19
Accepted
Professor Murtagh told us that for a long time it has been known that around...
Conclusion
Professor Murtagh told us that for a long time it has been known that around one in four adults who need palliative care do not get it, and that recent research suggests that the proportion may now be even higher.36 She went on to describe how a third of people receiving acute care in hospital are in the last year of life, accounting for about 10 million bed days each year. Many patients are not benefitting from acute care and might rather receive palliative care.37 The Department and NHS England recognised that some people are receiving care in more expensive settings than they need to be, particularly in acute hospitals.38
Government Response Summary
The government accepts the implied recommendation to improve access to palliative care and shift care out of acute hospital settings. It plans to achieve this through the Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care MSF by Autumn 2026, which will include metrics to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and unnecessary bed days, building on existing frameworks with a 10% target for these improvements.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2026 4.2 The government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and palliative care and end-of-life care services, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift. 4.3 The government is developing a Palliative Care and End‑of‑Life Care MSF which will support the shift to strategic commissioning based on integrated needs assessments. The MSF will outline evidenced based interventions and will include metrics that will focus on reduction of clinically avoidable non‑elective admissions and unnecessary bed days for people at the end of life. 4.4 The MSF will build on Medium Term Planning Framework, which made clear that ICBs and relevant NHS providers should ensure an understanding of current and projected total service utilisation and costs, including for those with palliative care and end-of-life care needs, and create an overall plan to more effectively manage the needs of these high-priority cohorts and significantly reduce avoidable unplanned admissions. 4.5 It will also build on the recently published Neighbourhood Health Framework, which sets clear expectations for the improvement of care of palliative care and end-of-life care patients through Neighbourhood Health. This set the ambition is to systems to increase in the number of people identified as approaching end of life by 10%, alongside a reducing the number of non-elective admissions and bed days of one day or over for people in the end of the life cohort by 10%.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Report
73rd Report - Financial sustainability of adult hospices in England
18 Mar 2026
HC 1236
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
0.4 yrs
Report published
18 Mar 2026