Mattie McGrath
Question:166. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health the status of palliative care services three year development framework 2017 to 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52267/18]
View answerWednesday, 12 December 2018
Questions (166)
Written answers
National policy on palliative care is contained within the 2001 Report of the National Advisory Committee on Palliative Care. While the quality and vision of the Report means it is still relevant today, it is recognised that the landscape of palliative care has changed in the intervening years, and it became apparent there was a need to identify measures to address the current needs of people accessing palliative care services.
As a response to current needs, the Palliative Care Services Three Year Development Framework was launched in November 2017. The objective of the Framework is to inform and direct the development of adult palliative care services, both generalist and specialist, in Ireland for a three year period. This is against the backdrop of an ageing population in Ireland, coupled with increasing numbers of deaths from cancer, dementia, and neurodegenerative disease, with an associated palliative care need.
The Framework’s focus is to identify the gaps that exist in the current level of adult palliative care service provision and to present a set of recommendations and actions which, over the duration of the Framework's lifetime, would seek to address these service issues and deficits, subject to available resources.
The Framework was commissioned by the HSE, with support from the Department of Health. As this is a service matter I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy with an update on the status of implementation of the Framework as soon as possible.