Farron calls for better end of life care

The government must do more to provide better end of life care, according to South Lakes MP Tim Farron. He met yesterday with Marie Curie to discuss the urgent need to improve access to palliative care. Tim is calling for a funding boost for health and social care in the upcoming budget.

About three quarters of people who die in the UK will need and benefit from some form of palliative care, yet seven out of ten carers say people with a terminal illness don't get all the care and support they need.

The vast majority of GPs (71%) said consultation time for patients with a terminal illness should ideally be over 20 minutes long. However, 86% said their routine appointment time was less than that, and 46% said they could only offer 10 minutes or less.

Tim said: "A civilised society looks after those who can't look after themselves - the government must step up. End of life care is vital to ensuring that people end their lives in as little pain as possible and in dignity. Yet these statistics show that sadly this support is often not available. Our health and social care systems are desperately short of funding and are under extreme pressure. I am calling on the government to recognise the importance of end of life care, and to provide an emergency funding boost to health and social care in the upcoming budget."