Palliative Care Matters for All: palliative care strategy 2025 to 2030

Ministerial Foreword

We will all experience life shortening conditions, dying and bereavement at some point in our lives, so palliative care matters to us all. Palliative care aims to help people of all ages live as well as possible over years rather than weeks or months.

I have seen first-hand the huge commitment and dedication across all sectors, partners, and services who deliver palliative care and wider support for people of all ages and their families and carers.

Scotland has an ageing population. We are living longer and often with multiple health conditions. We know that increasing numbers of people of all ages will need palliative care along with other health and social care. The value to people of all ages, and their families and carers of receiving palliative care is often overlooked.

We can do more as a society to talk about life shortening health conditions and what those may mean for us and those close to us. Societal taboos around death, dying and bereavement still make it harder for us to support ourselves and others. When a person is dying, we want to make sure they are comfortable, well cared for and with their family and friends who are also supported into bereavement.

A key priority for the Scottish Government is that our public services are sustainable, person-centred and deliver effective support for individuals in their communities. The strategy aligns with the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework (June 2025) within which our system, service leaders and staff will plan services for the future alongside people who use them, by building on what we already know works well. By focusing this strategy on deliverable outcomes and actions, we aim to ensure that across the country, people of all ages who need palliative care receive it and that they and their families and carers have flexible support based on their individual needs.

To those who contributed to developing this strategy and delivery plan, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks. I would also thank the many individuals and organisations who replied to our strategy consultation. The Scottish Government needs everyone who plans, funds and delivers palliative care in Scotland to work together and in partnership with people of all ages with life shortening conditions, their families, carers and communities.

Through the delivery of this strategy – Palliative Care Matters for All – I hope we raise people's awareness and appreciation of palliative care. We want everyone in Scotland who needs it to receive palliative care, care around dying and bereavement support based on what matters to them.

Jenni Minto MSP Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health