British medical bulletin article: resourcing of palliative and end of life care in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic

INTRODUCTION: Covid-19 led to a sustained increase in deaths in all four United Kingdom nations, placing strain on the UK’s palliative and end-of-life care sector and raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of the sector’s funding and resourcing model in the face of rising demand for these services in the coming decades. SOURCES OF DATA: Published research, Marie Curie, King’s College London Cicely Saunders Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, University of Cambridge, National Statistics, PubMed, DOI. AREAS OF AGREEMENT: Care for people at the end of their lives is a core part of the UK’s health and care system with demand set to increase significantly as the UK’s population ages. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY: The UK’s funding model for palliative and end-of-life care, with most care delivered by charitable sector providers and reliant on charitable donations, may be unsustainable in the face of increasing demand. GROWING POINTS: The Covid-19 pandemic led to rapid service innovation in palliative and end-of-life care, and providers should assess which of and how these innovations can be retained after the pandemic. AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: Although there has been a rapid growth in knowledge during Covid-19, gaps still remain including: the reasons underlying shifts to deaths at home and the implications for family carers; the education needs of the wider healthcare workforce in palliative care; the impact of specialist palliative care services on the wider health system, including hospital admissions and place of death; and inequalities in the experiences of dying, death and bereavement during Covid-19 among groups such as those from lower socioeconomic groups and BAME communities.