Question reference: S5W-19729
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 1 November 2018
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 November 2018
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment in its health and social care delivery plan, what progress it is making with doubling levels of palliative and end of life provision in the community, and how it defines such provision.
Answer
We do not have a single measure that captures performance against this aim, as the provision of palliative care depends on the interaction of a range of services - formal palliative care, care at home and care home services, and access to hospice and hospice-at-home services - that vary considerably in definition between local systems. Good care at end of life requires collaborative, multi-disciplinary support, which is why Integration Authorities have been given statutory responsibility for meeting this need. Integration Authorities regularly report on their progress using the 23 indicators ( https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Policy/Adult-Health-SocialCare-Integration/Outcomes/Indicators/Indicators ) that support the statutory outcomes set out in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014.
The indicator currently used nationally to gauge progress on improving palliative and end of life care provision is the percentage of last six months of life spent in the community. Integration Authorities met their planned trajectory for this indicator of 88% for 2017-18, which is an increase from 86.7% since the publication of the Health and Social Care Delivery Plan in 2015-16. However, we recognise that this indicator is only a measure of place of care, rather than quality or experience of care, and is not sufficient on its own. We are working with partners in local systems and health and social care professionals to develop better measures for this aim.