Palliative care refers to people who are living with a terminal illness where there is no cure, but the term can also be used to describe people who have a complex illness and require their symptoms to be controlled.

Palliative care also involves caring for people who are nearing the end of life. The General Medical Council defines end of life care as being when people are likely to die within the next 12 months – although the time frame can sometimes be difficult to predict. End of life care aims to help people live as well as possible and die with dignity. 

Aims of palliative care 

Palliative care will improve quality of life for the patient and everyone affected by the illness because it will:

• Treat or manage pain and other presenting physical symptoms
• Incorporate psychological and spiritual aspects of care
• Support the needs of the patient and their family to help people live as actively as possible, cope during the illness and also in bereavement.

The National Palliative and End of Life Care Partnership’s Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: A national framework for action in 2015-20 includes the Department of Health’s strategy and the NHS Five Year Forward View. The framework sets out six ambitions to make the specialist level palliative care vision become a reality:

• Each person is seen as an individual
• Each person gets fair access to services
• Comfort and wellbeing are maximised
• Care is co-ordinated
• All staff are prepared to care
• Each community is prepared to help.

Key facts

• Nearly 500,000 people in England require palliative care services every year, but one in five have to go without this help
• The General Medical Council defines end of life care as when people are likely to die within the next 12 months
• People’s wishes are not being addressed in end of life care, with around 58 per cent of people dying in hospital when most would have preferred to die at home
• A multi-disciplinary team is required to provide personalised, co-ordinated care that meets the needs of patients who are receiving palliative and end of life care 
• Effective communication is associated with increased levels of patient satisfaction and may improve clinical outcomes.