The Guardian view on hospices: investment in end-of-life care is a national priority | Editorial

A new National Audit Office report reveals a sector in crisis. As the needs of an ageing population grow, it must be a wake-up call for the governmentEngland’s first modern hospice, set up with the aim of improving the quality of life of terminally ill people, opened as a charity in south-east London in 1967. Its guiding philosophy was movingly summed up by Cicely Saunders, the nurse and social worker behind its foundation: “You matter because you are you, you matter to the last moment of your life.”Since then, through a combination of donations, fundraising efforts and financial assistance from the NHS, the independent hospice movement has become a key element in the UK economy of care. Offering emotional as well as medical support to terminally ill people and those with life-limiting conditions, and delivering services to those who wish to stay in their own homes, hospices are an invaluable social asset. On both sides of the fraught parliamentary debate over the assisted dying bill, the need to ensure that good palliative care is an accessible option for all has been treated as a given.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

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