£8m for palliative care in Wales

Palliative care services in Wales are to receive an £8m boost over the next three years, which will see the development of a training and education programme, and core standards for palliative care providers.

Last week Welsh health minister Edwina Hart accepted the recommendations of the Palliative Care Planning Group report, which she commissioned in October last year.

The group recommended that new training standards should cover all providers including primary care, hospitals and nursing and residential care homes. Other recommendations include establishing an all-Wales network to coordinate existing palliative care expertise and a 24-hour service advice line across Wales for both adult and paediatric services to access advice from experienced palliative care staff.

The Welsh Assembly will allocate £1m to palliative care this year, increasing to £2m next year and £5m in 2010–2011.

'Once and for all, I wanted to establish what constitutes core palliative care services and a means for measuring the quality of those services,' said Ms Hart.