Question reference: S6W-01812
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 2 August 2021
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 25 August 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what evidence-based assessment it has made of the (a) quality and (b) provision of palliative care services, in all settings, in each NHS board area.
Answer
Ensuring high quality palliative and end of life care for people towards the end of life is an important priority for the Scottish Government.
Since 2016, it has been the responsibility of Integration Authorities to commission and plan palliative and end of life care services and supports to meet the needs of their local population. The assessment of palliative and end of life care services is also their responsibility.
For this reason, the Scottish Government does not collect this data centrally.
However, Integration Authorities report on their progress using a range of indicators within their Annual Performance Reports, which provides some data on palliative and end of life care services. Information on the Core Suite of Integration Indicators can be found at https://publichealthscotland.scot/media/8411/2021-07-13-coresuiteindicators-background-and-glossary.pdf. It is, however, important to note that due to the pandemic, full data is not currently available for all indicators at present.
Public Health Scotland also publish official statistics on the percentage of time spent at home or in a community setting in the last six months of life. ( Percentage of end of life spent at home or in a community setting - Financial years ending 31 March 2011 to 2020 - Percentage of end of life spent at home or in a community setting - Publications - Public Health Scotland ).