ACT has welcomed the announcement by Minister for Health, Edwina Hart of funding of £8 million over the next three years to further improve both children’s and adult palliative care across Wales. 

This new investment was announced on 3 July 2008, and will be made up of £1m allocated to palliative care across Wales in 2008-09, increasing to £2m in 2009-10 and then £5m in 2010-11. We understand that this funding will be invested in both NHS and voluntary sector providers of palliative care.  The Palliative Care Planning Group Report was also launched – and ACT along with other partners, including Children’s Hospices UK and Help the Hospices fed into consultation process leading to the report earlier this year. 

ACT is pleased to note that many of our recommendations for children’s palliative care have been echoed in its findings, including a move to better collect and collate data and other key information about children with life-limiting conditions to enable better planning and commissioning of services.

We understand that a working group may be set up to oversee the implantation of the report’s recommendations and will also look at where this new investment should be prioritised.

The Report recommends that children's palliative care is commissioned at an all Wales level.  Other recommendations for children’s and adult palliative care include:

• Establishing an all Wales Network to co-ordinate existing expertise, including representation from Renal and Cardiac Networks and organisations concerned with life limiting conditions
• Agree an all Wales standard guidance for all palliative care services, building on the current Welsh Cancer Standards that sets out the core service specification with requirements that the core .
• Establish a 24 hour service advice line across the whole of Wales for both adult and paediatric services using staff with Palliative care experience and have access to an on call consultant.
• Develop an All Wales Training and Education Programme with agreed Standards for all Palliative Care Providers in Primary Care, Hospital, Nursing and Residential Care Homes
• Collate all Wales data on patient numbers and conditions to be used to inform commissioning and form a register of need.
• Develop information for patients, families and carers at a network level, including a directory of services.  
• Develop the current IT systems for adult Palliative Care and establish an IT system for children's Palliative Care.

  To review the NHS Wales Press Release visit: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/newsitem.cfm?contentid=10134