It’s Time To Fix End Of Life Care: Actor Jim Carter Delivers Petition To Westminster
Actor Jim Carter handed in a petition to Westminster this afternoon calling on government ministers to fix end of life care.
The petition, run by the UK’s leading end of life care charity, Marie Curie, has 81,568 signatures and calls for urgent investment into community end of life care services and a strategy for the future of palliative care.
This comes ahead of the release of the 10 Year Health Plan and Spending Review, expected in the next few months. Both present vital opportunities to improve the support available for people affected by terminal illness.
During his visit, the Downton Abbey star also chaired a roundtable in parliament to highlight to MPs and policymakers some of the key gaps in current end of life care provision.
Campaigners and Marie Curie frontline staff took part in the round table, sponsored by James Frith MP, and highlighted services that are overstretched, underfunded and overlooked. A lack of joined up palliative and end of life care is leading many terminally ill people to spend their final weeks stuck in ambulances, hospital corridors and overwhelmed Emergency Departments.
Marie Curie’s petition is calling on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Chancellor to:
- Establish a ‘transformation fund’ for new, innovative end of life care services.
- Invest in the workforce, with fair pay and better training for those caring for dying people across the NHS and hospice charities.
- Work together on a sustainable, long-term funding plan – so that wherever you live, whatever your illness, you’ll be able to rely on good care right to the end.
These changes would not only future-proof the workforce and ensure more dying people receive the right care when they need it, but also ease the strain on the wider NHS and help the UK Government achieve their ambition to shift more care from the hospital to the community.
Marie Curie Ambassador Jim Carter said:
“I’ve been a Marie Curie Ambassador for almost a decade now, and during that time I have been shocked to learn about some of the appalling gaps in end of life care.
“It’s tragic to know so many people are dying in avoidable pain, without the care and support they need – it’s clear that end of life care is in crisis.
“How we care for dying people matters. It matters to us all. The government must sit up and listen, to Marie Curie, and to the tens of thousands of people who have signed this petition.
“They must urgently invest in palliative and end of life care and make it a priority in the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan.”
Marie Curie Policy Campaigns Manager, Frankie Wilks said:
“An NHS fit for the future must be fit for dying people too. Right now, that’s not the case.
“Things will only get worse as demand for care increases – it’s estimated by 2048 that 147,000 more people will need palliative care every year. There’s currently no realistic plan by any government across the UK to address this challenge.
“That’s why we’re urging the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to recognise this oversight and prioritise end of life care in the Spending Review and 10 Year Health Plan.
“We all want to have a good death – but that will only happen with government investment in end of life care.”
