Dignity in death: implementing the NHS Long Term Plan

The NHS Long Term Plan (2019) offers potential for improved care both in general and specifically leading to dignified death and dying for those at the end of their life. This plan heralds a promising era for patients at the end of life, as well as their friends and families, in addition to providing an opportunity for health professionals charged with supporting and caring for these patients to maximise the quality of care at the end of life. For the latter, there is a real opportunity to grasp this LTP and its promised funding and implement the best possible and available care that ‘our’ patients can benefit from sooner rather than later.

It is important for all palliative care practitioners including district nurses to realise that, although the Government has labelled this a long-term plan, most of the patients they care for might not have the same length of time left to benefit from the funding and improved care. It is therefore critical that local and national strategies are quickly formulated to implement the particular aspects of the Plan relevant to palliative and end-of-life care in order to enhance dignity in death and dying for all patients, including those who are homeless.