Palliative and End-of-Life Care by Integration Authorities: advice note

Support for Developing Commissioning Plans for Palliative and End of Life Care

The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC) ^[1] plays a particular role running network functions which connect health and social care professionals from hospitals, social care services, primary care, hospices and other charities, to find and share ways of improving people’s experiences of declining health, death, dying and bereavement. SPPC is significantly funded by the Scottish Government and its membership to fulfil this role, and its activities aim to offer to support PEOLC in all settings, across statutory, voluntary and independent sectors.

Partnerships should also consider other national resources which provide guidance regarding high quality, safe and effective PEOLC.

These resources include:

• Health and Social Care Standards ^[18]
• Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines ^[19]
• SIGN Guidelines, which include guidance on palliative care for specific conditions such as heart failure ^[20]
• NICE Guidance on end of life care ^[21] and End of life care for infants, children and young people ^[22] amongst others
• A Road Less Lonely - Moving forward with public health approaches to death, dying and bereavement in Scotland (2018) ^[23]
• The The NES and SSSC - Education and Development framework and an introductory learning resource ^[24]
• Resources developed as part of the Learning Disabilities and Palliative Care Project ^[25]

Healthcare Improvement Scotland, and in particular the iHUB and the ‘Living Well in Communities’ ^[26] work stream, focuses on key areas of health and social care that can prevent unnecessary admission to hospital and enable people to remain at home or in a homely setting, with support from their family and the community.