End of life care ‘essence’ of general practice – report concerns ‘must be addressed’

Responding to Marie Curie’s Better End of Life: Time to Care in England report, published today, Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: 

“Part of the essence of general practice is delivering holistic care to patients from a very young age right up until they are near or at the ends of their lives. As such, being involved in the delivery of high-quality palliative and end of life care at this incredibly vulnerable time for patients - and supporting their families - is a priority for GPs and our teams. 

“A lot of good end of life care is being delivered across the country. But the findings in this report are certainly concerning and reflect intense pressures right across the health and care services that are vital to ensuring patients receive the best possible end of life care, not least in general practice. It is clear that those bearing the brunt of the underfunding and poor workforce planning that has led to these pressures are vulnerable patients and their families - and this must be addressed. 

“The RCGP has worked closely with Marie Curie to develop the Daffodil Standards, which support GP practices to take steps that will ensure patients at or nearing the end of their lives are receiving the best possible care. Since the beginning of the programme, 1,900 practices from across the UK have participated, potentially benefitting an estimated 13.2 million patients.  

“But more widely, we desperately need improved staffing and funding in general practice in order to provide the high-quality end of life care our patients deserve - and this must be addressed as soon as possible.”   

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.