Scottish Parliament elections: Palliative care in party manifestos

Scottish Parliament elections: Palliative care in party manifestos

Prior to the upcoming Scottish Parliament Elections on 7 May, several political parties have made references to palliative care within their party manifestos.  SPPC is independent of party politics and abides by the legal frameworks which apply to charities during electoral periods. 

For information, we’ve provided below links to all the major parties’ manifestos where ‘palliative care’ is explicitly mentioned (and quoted the relevant content in each).

Scottish Conservatives

2026 Scottish Parliament Election Manifesto - Scottish Conservatives

“For those with terminal illnesses, we must do better to care for them as they enter the final stages of their life. We welcome the publication of the Palliative Care Matters for All strategy 2025-2030 but know that strategies alone will not improve care – it is delivery that counts. So we would ensure this strategy is backed up with a new funding model to deliver the palliative care our country deserves.”

Scottish Greens 

2026 Scottish Greens Manifesto - Scottish Greens

“It is vital that we also support people to die well and we need to have honest conversations about what a good death looks like. Palliative care has been neglected for too long and we will invest in services so that people can access help and support in their community, 24/7.

• Deliver a long-term, sustainable funding model for hospice care, including fully implementing pay parity between NHS and hospice care staff.

• Establish an independent review of palliative care to drive urgent system reform and identify investment needed to meet rising population needs, expand community-based care and reduce avoidable hospital use for those as the end of life.

• Ensure all patients, carers and health and care staff have access to a 24/7 palliative care helpline to get support and specialist advice.

• Make training in palliative care a mandatory requirement for all workforces supporting a terminally ill person, including care home staff and social care staff, with provision for unpaid carers.”

Scottish Liberal Democrats 

2026 Manifesto - Scottish Liberal Democrats

“Give people dignity at the end of life by:

• Supporting hospices to provide essential palliative and end-of-life care, enabling them to pay doctors and nurses in line with NHS salaries and giving children’s hospice care a fair deal, building on the extra £14.4m delivered by Scottish Liberal Democrats across the last two Scottish budgets.

• Giving people of all ages living with terminal illness a legal right to palliative care.

• Helping people with terminal illness with energy bills amid the cost of living crisis, and giving them fast-track access to the emergency insulation programme set out in chapter 12.”

Scottish Labour

Manifesto 2026 - Scottish Labour

Improving end of life care

“Too many people are reaching the end of life without the support they need. Compassionate and well planned palliative services give patients comfort and care when they are terminally ill.

Scottish Labour will:

• End the patchwork provision of palliative care, working with the profession to improve clinical pathways and minimum standards of care for those at the end of life.

• Improve palliative care training, for staff in social care and health services, including NHS 24, so patients and families get the advice and support they need.

• Better coordinated care in the community, with family GPs delivering improved continuity of care.

• Deliver parity of pay for hospice-based doctors and nurses, with a long-term sustainable funding model for hospices and end of life care.”

SNP

SNP 2026 Manifesto: Always on Scotland’s side — Scottish National Party

Framed as ‘Palliative care expansion’ in the contents page

Palliative care

“Anyone who needs palliative care should have access to the best quality support. We will work with all interested parties to make sure that appropriate palliative care is available for all those who need it, where and when they need it.

We will continue to deliver our Palliative Care Matters for All Strategy and build on the investment made in our hospices to introduce NHS pay parity for hospice staff and increase funding to £9.4 million this year. We will guarantee that pay parity is maintained throughout this parliament.

Going forward we will co-develop a new funding model for Hospices with the sector to ensure annual public funding keeps pace with need. That will include exploring if the most appropriate model is direct funding for hospices in recognition of the key role they play in the provision of palliative care. We will work with the NHS and specialist charities to explore ways to expand the palliative care workforce, and provide more consistent palliative care for those who need it.

We will also deliver a new Paediatric Palliative Care Suite for Scotland - or ‘Molly’s Suite’ - building on the incredible work done by young cancer patient Molly Cuddihy to ensure children and young people at the end of their life are properly supported and treated with dignity. This will complement the exceptional work done by CHAS to support children, young people and their families in Robin House and Rachel House.”

Home Energy for Health

“The use of life saving equipment at home and not having to either visit or stay in hospital, should not leave anyone out of pocket.

That’s why we will work to support the cost of electricity for the use of life saving equipment that has been prescribed for use within their home. As part of our efforts to improve palliative care we will also ensure that this electricity support is applied to the energy bills of terminally ill patients, to relieve this worry from their final days.”